Lesson Learned: Barn Fires
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232 – November/December, 2023
By Megan Arszman
Within almost 30 days at the beginning of 2022, two Midwestern farms experienced every barn owner’s absolute worst nightmare.
On January 6, 2022, Springcliff Farm in Martinsville, Indiana, lost 26 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse broodmares–ready to foal–when the Hoosier Heritage farm went up in flames in the early morning hours.
On February 5, 2022, Kristy Doyle’s barn in Ellsworth, Illinois, burnt down on a particularly frigid winter night, killing 13 Quarter and Paint Horses.
According to the Animal Welfare Institute, 113 deadly barn fires occurred in 2021. Between 2018 and 2021, the average number of animals killed in barn fires each year topped 748,000 animals (this includes chickens, cows, pigs, horses, llamas, etc.).
“You never want it to happen to anyone,” says Doyle.
“I was living in an absolute nightmare,” says Christine Cagle, owner of Springcliff Farm.
There have been many articles written about what to do to prevent a fire at your barn. Yet, there are still many tragic stories of horses being lost to flames and barn owners saying they don’t know what caused the fires.
“The real key to mitigating the damage from all of these disasters is having a plan that is enacted immediately; and it has to be done before the fire department reaches your farm,” says Rebecca Husted, lead instructor with Technical Large Animal Emergency Response.
Husted has heard all the stories and seen all the tragedies. She studies the notes of every barn fire she hears about and teaches fire departments and barn owners the right things to do to help prevent bigger tragedies.
Early Detection
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232 – November/December, 2023
