Barn Fire

[sfmini]

I went by a neighbor's place yesterday, and there was nothing left of the barn but smouldering rubble and the horses. Judy went over there today to offer any help, and they were most worried that the horses aren't used to grass so they may be moving to our dry lot for a while until their new barn with smoke detectors wired in to the house is completed. Construction is scheduled to start in a few days. The inspectors were going through it today, so far the suspicion is that the fire may have been caused by an electrical problem with a fan. Through all of this the good news is that they had just put the horses out for a few hours that morning to start getting them used to grass now that their show season is over so while the barn and contents (tack included) are a total loss, the horses are fine.

 

[user 488]

How awful......but great that the horses are OK which is what really matters.

Electrical fires from FANS, RADIOS and wiring to LIGHTS are the biggest causes and I have personally known 3 barns where they lost the horses too. It was devastating for the owners. Make sure you keep sweeping the cobwebs away from any electrical device......light bulbs and sockets. Oh....hot water heaters too!

 

[Leeana]

I just recently started using fans in my stalls and have a window fan in all the windows in my isle way, i always make sure i turn them off at night and the radio.

A pig farm down from us uses heat lamps in the winter/fall months on the baby pigs and they have had 2 barn fires in the past 3 years bc of the heat lamps, just got the new (3rd!) barn built agian and i am sure they are putting heat lamps back in, some people just will not learn.

Its fine to leave fans on during the day when its daylight and you are out to the barn multiple times a day and in broad daylight nabors ext can see, ALWAYS turn everything off at night though. Taking 3 minutes to go around and turn off all lights-fans-radio's will save horses lives and $$$$$$ in the long run.

Thank you for posting this, everynight i have remind myself to turn all the fans off as i've only had them in the barn for about 2 weeks

.

:aktion033:

 

[Marty]

I am presently running a lot of fans in the new barn and it has all new wiring.

However, paranoid as I am, I unplug if I am going off the property. I also do not keep them all on all night long and do not start them up during the day until I absolutely have to. The barn is insullated so that does make it cooler which helps so much.

If you are running box fans, don't put them on high, keep them on medium so they won't over heat from over use and longevity. It helps if you keep the motors cleaned out from dirt and dust.

I also wanted to say that I have a rather large industrial fan running too in the isleway which tends to get hot easily so I keep an eye on that. It's on the floor so it draws in extra dirt and I have to blow it out often.

There is not a cobweb in my barn but that's because I have to keep after them about twice a week lately. They seem to appear overnight sometimes.

 

[Sarah's Little Blessings]

:new_shocked: HOW AWFUL!! OMG, and I just started a post recently about how to keep them cool, and noted I was worried about the barn fires!!! My goodness!! So sorry to hear that!

 

[MBhorses]

:no: bless their hearts.we will be praying for them.

We are so thankful everyone is okay.

 

[Miniv]

Thank God the horses are all okay!

This is a fear of mine........electrical outlets in the barn........often there aren't enough and we try to use them with extension cords, etc....... It's very scarey.

MA

 

[rattle33]

There was a notice, a few years back, that one of the most common barn box fans could short out. The company offered to send out an adapter for the plug, free, for the fix

 

[rattle33]

this is the web site with fans, Names, models, that were recalled

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06085.html

 

[wildoak]

I have box fans over my stalls too, generally off at night but I have one over a big mare I've been leaving on. Ack, may have to go out in my pj's and turn it off now so I can sleep.

I did have one burn out a few years ago - smelled something hot/burning, and after a search finally realized one fan wasn't working. Motor had burned out and sparked, but thankfully went no further.

The one that really scared me was when the breaker box in the barn overheated. I smelled something hot all morning, checked all the fans, wiring, etc and all was okay. Breaker box was behind a tall bookcase in the tack room, I slipped my hand back there and it was HOT to the touch. I think we had a very close call on that one. We were in an older wood barn at the time, and I know some of the wiring that predated us was pretty haphazardly done, always made me nervous.

Jan

 

[sedeh]

I'm so glad the horses were safe! My neighbors barn went up last year due to a radio that shorted out. So scarey! Their horses weren't in the barn either.......Thank God!!

 

[sfmini]

I think their idea of smoke detectors wired to their house is a great idea, another idea would be to have an intercom in your barn and smoke detectors. A fire can start and be very established before you see anything and it is too late.

On smoke detectors tho, I remember this from my days at Meredith Manor. All barns had them wired in and the school also had its own fire department, a group of students who got specialized fire fighting training, and we even had an old 1942 Ford fire truck. Those smoke detectors had to be kept clean to keep the dirt and dust from setting them off. Sure was fun being on that fire crew, I loved the training I got, plus it was kind of cool, we would be in a riding class, the alarm would go off, and the instructors would run to the center of the ring, we would be riding to the instructors to bail off and run. We did have two fires while I was there, one in the laundry, and one in the cafeteria in a vending machine. Both successfully put out by us. :aktion033:

 

[Ashley]

A pig farm down from us uses heat lamps in the winter/fall months on the baby pigs and they have had 2 barn fires in the past 3 years bc of the heat lamps, just got the new (3rd!) barn built agian and i am sure they are putting heat lamps back in, some people just will not learn.

You have to have heat lamps for baby pigs. There is no way to avoid haveing them. That said I would be looking at how they place them. We have used heat lamps off and on for years. You have to be careful how you hang them.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Unfortunately, I HAVE to have a fan on right now for the new baby. She'd cook otherwise, I can't put them out, she's REALLY cook outside. I do turn it off at night, but I worry the whole time I'm here... d***ed if I do, d***ed if I don't... *sigh*

Lucy