Berkley public safety officers save chickens, home from fire

BERKLEY — Disaster was averted as the Berkley Public Safety Department prevented a house from catching on fire and saved the lives of three chickens.

Police and fire were called at 1:40 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, to the 2200 block of Oxford Road for a report of smoke seen emitting from the property on the side of a home.

“One of the first arriving officers saw the smoke coming from the side of the house, went through the backyard and determined it was actually coming from a chicken coop that was just next to the house,” Berkley Public Safety Detective Lt. Andrew Hadfield said. “He then looked inside, realized there was still three chickens inside and pulled those ones out to safety, and then they were able to extinguish the fire.”

The chickens were deemed to be OK after they were saved and turned back over to the homeowner.

The exact cause of the fire had yet to be fully determined as of press time, but Hadfield stated that a heating element in the coop, such as a heated blanket, might have sparked the fire.

“They generally don’t self-combust and adding the external heating source appears to have been what made it spark the fire,” he said.

Often in the winter, Hadfield said, people use heated blankets, space heaters or even ovens to keep their homes warm. They can be overused in these cases and cause problems.

“You never want to leave anything like that, that has a heating element, whether it’s a heated blanket or space heater or candles lit, if you’ve left the place,” he said. “In this case, they left the heating element on and had left. So if you’re using a space heater, we understand that does occur, but when you leave, it needs to be turned off. The same as candles or any other ways you’re trying to stay warm. Those things need to happen.”