Turner turkey barn destroyed, all chicks lost to fire
By Neal A. Johnson

J and Sheila Turner have been raising turkeys on Loose Creek Highway since 2007, and in all that time, they have never experienced anything like the fire that destroyed a turkey brooder house despite a great effort by area fire departments.
“This really sucks,” said J, who lost 10,000 one-day-old turkey chicks that had been delivered on Wednesday. “At this time, we really don't know yet what the insurance will or will not cover.”
J walked through the barn to check on the turkeys before leaving for lunch and everything was cool and in order. An hour later, upon his return, he saw smoke coming out of the building from the road.”
When he opened the door to the medicine room in the building, the temperature was 144 degrees on the brain box. He opened the door to the rest of the building and all he could see was smoke.
“At that point, there was no way he could go in with all the smoke,” Sheila said.
J shut the fans off, called 911, and then shut off the propane tanks. His next call was to Warren Haslag, for whom the Turners raise the turkeys. Haslag sells to West Liberty Foods in Iowa.
Turner had been raising turkeys for Butterball but he and 16 other growers were cut off in April of last year.
There was no chance of J putting out the fire.
“All I could do was wait for the fire department,” J said.
Linn Fire Protection District (LDPD) personnel arrived quickly and began securing the scene, dousing propane tanks and the surrounding area, along with setting up a water shuttle.
“I was very concerned about them exploding,” J said of the propane tanks.
With mutual aid, LFPD was joined in short order by firefighters from Freeburg, Westphalia, and Osage Fire, all of which focused on refilling the water shuttle and assisting wherever they could.
“We would like to thank all of the departments that responded from the bottom of our hearts,” J and Sheila said. “We know they did all they could do to save any little thing but the fire was just too big to get under control. We greatly appreciate all of their efforts.”
According to LFPD Assistant Chief Craig Leivian, the origin of the fire has not been determined. Crews were called to the scene at 1:24 and removed all but one firefighting apparatus at approximately 7:47 p.m.
Chief Ron Hoffman said the department periodically checked on the property all night and officially cleared the scene Friday morning.
“We wanted to make sure there were no remaining hotspots,” he said. “I am pleased with the effort of all the firefighters involved. This is what we train for, and the mutual-aid we received was very good. We appreciate it.”
J’s grandfather, Edwin Haslag, bought the farm in approximately 1942 and free-ranged turkeys there. Sylvester Kremer followed suit, and then Ray Koenigsfeld and Glen Robertson rented it and ran cattle on it until J and Sheila built their turkey buildings on it in 2007.
The two remaining barns are empty.