It was just on ABC nightly news.
Fire in one of the barns. 27 horses lost. May be due to lightning.
Very sad.
Just awful. Very sorry to all the people involved, and Godspeed to the horses. :’(
:no:
Devastating. I know Eric Reed, he had some horse for us a few years go. He and his wife are good people.
My deepest sympathy for the people involved. I hope that the horses who were saved from the barn are recovering well. It is a tragedy and may have been made worse by slow response time from emergency services.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/218496/trainer-reed-recalls-devastating-barn-fire
that response time by emergency officials is inexcusable. 39 minutes!!!
The town of Lexington responded and said it took them 20 minutes to respond and 13 minutes once they got to the farm to get to the fire.
I’ve never been there but 20 minutes seems reasonable for 5 miles on back roads but 13 minutes once on the farm seems odd.
the farm is right off of the road, not very far up the drive at all.
EVERY farm owner worst nightmare!!! prayers
The 13 minutes to get to the farm makes sense, the wait from the time they called 9-1-1 to the time they left the station definitely deserves to be questioned. Especially getting a recording when calling a second time.
Driven those roads in the dark. I’ll give them a pass on that part, narrow, twisting, narrow or no shoulder and really dark. Weather was lousy Sunday morning IIRC.
Wonder if, once they did arrive, they could not locate a hydrant or water source or it was frozen and they didn’t have a truck with a big enough tank with the first responding team? Have an aquantaince who is a volunteer EMT and firefighter with the local rural fire department where my barn is. He says it takes them longer to respond as the full time staff has to be augmented by on call volunteers to roll a full complement. Would think the LEX fire department is fully staffed with full timers…
But he also has said they often cannot start to actually fight rural structure fires until they locate a water source or get a pumper truck with a tank on site. Not willing to blame the firefighters without getting their side of conditions at the site.
Terrible thing that happened and no excuse for the computer problems and dispatch recording. But placing blame on the first responders might not be appropriate.
According to the latest reports, changes to the 911 system in Lexington was to blame for the delay in response. The fire department says it took them 13 minutes to reach the farm, but they weren’t notified of the 911 call until 20 minutes after it came in (and was put on hold.)
What a tragedy.
sorry, can’t edit…changes “were” to blame.
According to Blood-Horse, Lexington’s 9-1-1 center is making more changes as a result of this. They’re hiring six more people to make 9-1-1 calls are handled since they also take non-emergency calls at the center.
We AREN’T living in a 3rd world country… this is utterly and totally unacceptable… Suing won’t bring the horses back HOWEVER…I see a HUGE LAW SUITE in Lexington’s future…
“But he also has said they often cannot start to actually fight rural structure fires until they locate a water source or get a pumper truck with a tank on site. Not willing to blame the firefighters without getting their side of conditions at the site.”
As someone who is a racetracker, a firefighter, and just happens to live in Lexington (and am familiar with the setup of the Reed operation), here’s my insight:
Yes, Lexington fire is a career department. They do not have volunteers. The closest responding engine company has no more than 90 seconds to leave the house and head to the scene. Though a distance of 5.5 miles may seem like a short responding distance, this fire happened during a hellacious storm. I was driving home from work after midnight, not long prior to the fire, and the 25mph I was driving was probably too fast. The drive from the firehouse to the Reed’s takes roughly 10 minutes in ideal conditions. The fact they woke up from their slumber, donned their gear and drove through the storm on a narrow, extremely unsafe road (I cringe every time I have to drive Russell Cave) and arrived on scene in 13 min is not out of the question. Unfortunately, that’s one of the prices you pay for living in a rural setting, which is what the bulk of the farms in Lexington are considered.
The engine company would have been able to immediately start flowing water once on scene. I believe Engine 19 has a water capacity of 1000 gallons, and therefore, around 5 min before draining the tank, give or take a few minutes due to the configuration of your hose and nozzle/water appliance. It is the responsibility of the 2nd responding engine company to secure a water source and lay a supply line to the first engine. Though there is a (non city) hydrant next to this barn, LFD does not utilize private hydrants, only city hydrants. There are too many unknown factors and risks to use a private hydrant - no water source, caps cannot get undone, water but extremely decreased pressure, etc.
Something the media has not really spoke of, and this is someone everyone here in Lexington already knows, is that police and fire utilize different dispatchers, even though they are now housed under the same roof. You dial 911, state your emergency to the call taker, and if it is fire or EMS in nature, they place you on hold and transfer you to the Fire call taker. I have lived in many jurisdictions, and Lexington has the ONLY 911 setup like this.
Another factor, is, how long was the structure burning before anyone on the property was notified? This was the middle of the night for most folks, especially those in the racing industry who must rise early. The barn is not easily seen from Russell Cave, Russell Cave is not heavily travelled that time of night, and with the downpour, any ability to see big fire would have been impaired. Small fire would not be seen from the road even in ideal conditions.
What I question, is with the amount of horses on that property, why a nightwatch was not employed? I have hired nightwatchmen for 12 horses on the racetrack, where there are countless people to keep an eye on the horses.
At least no one here has brought up sprinklers. I have read comments on many social media posts and that seems to be the one factor that the lay community does not understand - why barns are not equipped with sprinkler systems. That’s another thread for another day. I have written to the Bloodhorse with a request that they feature an article on pros and cons of installing sprinkler systems in barns. I hope they carry through with it - a great education article for those who are not hands on horsemen.
My heart goes out to Eric and Kay and no matter what my opinion is of their operation, no one should have to endure a tragedy such as this. And most definitely, no horse should ever have to perish in this manner. At least yesterday they were given the go ahead by investigators to clear the carcasses from the scene, where they were then given a proper burial.
My condolences to those who lost horses in this barn fire, and to those who knew and cared for them. Very sad. While I would also be critical of the unfortunate delay in dispatch procedures in this case, it needs to be pointed out that even in the very best of circumstances, fire departments can not possibly bear the responsibility of “saving the day” when it comes to these incidents. Most barn fires which kill horses occur like this one, at night, and are well involved before they come to caretaker or bystander attention. I have read a ton of articles and studies on barn fire incidents over many years, and it is well established that within 7 minutes from there being a visible flame, the barn is fully involved - certainly to the point where no ethical fire department officer can risk his staff by sending them in to try to save animals. Looking at the numbers here, even if the responding apparatus was dispatched without any delay, a thirteen minute response time - which is actually quite impressive under the roadway and weather circumstances (its a fire engine, not a farrari…) is entirely reasonable in a very rural, agricultural community. And this is from a career, staffed department - most rural departments rely on responding volunteers, etc which can take even longer to get sufficient equipment and manpower on scene… As horse people, we have to accept responsibility for fire prevention and have to make a conscious decision toward prevention and potential rescue response. To think a fire department can get there, open and attach hydrants or stand pipes and charge lines in the LESS THAN SEVEN MINUTE window statistics point to is delusional… The PROBLEM is how we, traditionally and economically in most cases, build barns… Our horses virtually have NO CHANCE. Barns need to be built, all electrical issues aside, with sprinklers or heat detecting wire with alarm systems, with doors to the outside for EACH STALL and with the insane amount of fuel load - hay - stored seperately, well away from the structure. All this takes money - about what, two grand per stall? Sadly, it is only the most progressive or safety conscious, preparred barns (or those that have suffered this type of tragedy) with deep pockets or with very pricey horseflesh inside that choose to or can do this. But that is what needs to happen if people are serious about it. I hope wheen this barn rebuilds, they consider some of these options. If you look for it, there is a lot of information available about how to do things better when it comes to construction, prevention and emergency egress.
Reminds me of the fire at the Standardbred facility near home last year… 50 (?) horses perished? It was the beginning of a terrible series of barn fires here in Ontario.
I feel terrible for everyone involved and I hope the horses did die quickly.
I miss the quote function…
Thanks QHjockee for a very informative post. And for Andrew, no we don’t live in a 3rd world country, most of those don’t keep fancy horses in fancy barns. BUT most horses are housed in rural areas with lower land cost, property tax, reduced services compared to urban areasand often narrow, iffy at best roads, like Russell Cave. It’s not like more urban areas with the station a mile away and useable hydrant across the street.
Then you get the whole infrastructure issues like a non linked 911 service. That’s not the only place in the country without a common dispatcher. Not in the budget. That’s on city and county bureaucrats, if they even have the tax revenue to support it.
Food for thought, with so very much money in the industry, why isn’t some of it channeled into barn safety for horses and barn staff? We had a pre dawn fire at the fairgrounds a few years ago, winter harness meet. Think it was over 70 horses, couple of minis and several humans. Despite being right in town, nobody noticed until too late. That was a volunteer aided department, still had a unit on scene within 15 min. of the call. Previous version of same barn also went up with high death toll some decades earlier.
Same scenario has been repeated again and again at racetracks and big commercial barns. Understand budget constraints with publically funded facilities but not so much very high dollar, modern commercial facilities. I don’t buy you can’t have a fire detection and alarm system with all our recent technology and maybe its time to revisit sprinkler system feasibility.
For what it costs most horse owners to house their horses, maybe this might shed some light on things that can and should be done. Do feel really bad for these folks, by all accounts they ran an excellent operation, nothing here is their fault, as is often the case, it’s the good ones that suffer tragedy. Not the crappy places that seem to go on forever.
