Illinois fire crew help cool stranded chickens | State and regional
Chickens, packed in crates, are shown after the truck that transported them along Interstate 90 in Addison, Ill., On Tuesday, June 8, 2021 broke down. The truck was carrying around 14,000 chickens which were then sprayed by firefighters to tightly protect packaged birds from overheating. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune via AP)
Chris Sweda
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ADDISON – A load of 14,000 chickens stranded in the Chicago suburbs when the semi-trailer they were riding in lost a wheel was then sprayed by firefighters to protect the tightly packed birds from overheating.
The bird-filled semi was on Interstate 90 near Elgin when a wheel came off Tuesday morning, forcing the driver to stop. A mechanic chained up one of the axles of the truck, and the driver then slowly drove to a repair shop about 30 miles away in the Chicago suburb of Addison.
After the semi-trailer arrived at Super Truck Service, mechanic Andrew Loucks used a garden hose to water the chickens on a day when Chicago-area temperatures soared in the 1980s.
“I didn’t want the chickens to die. I didn’t know what to do, â€Loucks told the Chicago Tribune.
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A medical team from the Addison Fire Protection District saw Loucks watering the birds and knew it wouldn’t be enough for the chickens to survive the heat.
Battalion Chief Chris Mansfield said a fire engine was dispatched and firefighters sprayed “probably several hundred gallons of water” on the chickens.