Bozrah - A 300-foot-long vacant chicken coop was destroyed early Friday morning by a massive fire that engulfed the building and sent flames shooting above surrounding trees and smoke billowing into the night sky.

Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire at the Kofkoff Egg Farm in Bozrah, reported at about 11:50 p.m. Thursday by a truck driver working there.

By the time fire crews got there, the 50- by 300-foot structure was fully engulfed, said Bozrah Fire Lt. John Way.

It took firefighters from about a dozen companies nearly four hours to put out the blaze. Crews worked through the numbing 11-degree night to fight the flames, but the weather did not hinder their efforts, Way said, adding that state and town crews salted the road as it kept freezing over. No injuries were reported.

There are no fire hydrants near the property. Tanker trucks raced up and down the road as the fire burned. The trucks used a nearby stream and opened a fire hydrant at Fields Memorial School for the water supply.

The fire, Way said, was contained to the structure, which collapsed. Because the coop was not near any other buildings, the fire did not pose a risk to other business operations, he said. It was under control by 4:30 a.m.

Fire investigators spent Friday trying to determine what caused the fire.

The farm is owned by Moark LLC, a national, consolidated egg company formed in 2000 that markets Land O Lakes, Eggland's Best and local premium labels, according to the company Web site. Company officials could not be reached to comment.

Way said the state Department of Environmental Protection was called to the scene as a precaution. Dennis Schain, a DEP spokesman, said Friday an emergency response team responded, which is common practice when there is a massive fire.

He said the DEP crew worked with an environmental contractor hired by the company to properly secure insecticide containers stored in the building. DEP responders also helped firefighters and the contractors ensure that the runoff of water used to fight the fire did not spread to nearby waterways.

In addition to the Bozrah Fire Department, a Mohegan FAST team, Salem, Gardner Lake, Yantic, Colchester, Baltic, Lebanon, East Great Plain, Lisbon, Griswold and Oakdale fire departments responded.

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