A barn fire last night at the Warren County, Ohio, fairgrounds killed 2 people and 44 horses.
This sort of thing has happened before — large numbers of horses dying in barn fires. Another fire at the same Ohio fairgrounds in 1988 killed 38 horses. Thirty-two horses died in a barn fire in Toronto in 2002. Fifteen horses died in a barn fire in Cobb County, Ga., in 2008. Twenty-seven were killed in a 2008 barn fire in Henderson County, Ky. Get the picture?
What’s so hard about putting smoke alarms and sprinklers in horse barns!!?
This was on the front page of the Cincinnati Enquirer (the local “fish wrap” which I only get on Sundays). I couldn’t bear to read much beyond the headlines, I was so upset. I agree totally with the idea of sprinkler systems in barns (in general, not just horse barns). It seems to me that if one values the animals (at least for profit potential – disgusting, but sometimes true), one should protect them from unnecessary suffering, including the danger of fire.
___________
Seems like a no-brainer to me. Highly flammable buildings filled with highly flammable hay housing highly valuable animals. Why WOULDN’T you have sprinklers??