PETERSBURG- The Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office found no sign of foul play in the barn fire that killed about 10,000 hogs at Pillen Family Farms in May.

State Fire Inspector Garrett Weidner also wrote in his report that the cause of the fire could not be determined.

The fire started at the front of the building, its south side, according to the report. That is also the side of the building where an addition was being built, but Weidner wrote that he could not pin down the exact starting point of the fire. The barn was near Albion, Nebraska.

Investigating the fire was made more difficult, he wrote, by the extensive damage and inability to inspect the interior of the collapsed barn.

The day before the fire, workers at the hog barn reported smelling smoke, according to Weidner’s report.

Marcia Medina, site leader for the farm, told Weidner that she searched for the source but was unable to find it and could not actually see any smoke or flames. Medina told Weidner that in addition to searching the rooms in the barn, she climbed into the attic to look.

The day before the fire, an area contracting company, T&J Paz Construction, had cut into the tin siding at the front of the building to attach flashing. None of the work was electrical, the contractor told Weidner.

According to the inspector’s report, Armando Rodriguez of T&J said workers didn’t smell smoke, but did hose down the area where they were cutting after Medina said she was looking for the source of smoke she had smelled. When they were done for the day, they cleaned up the worksite and left at 5 p.m., he told Weidner.

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