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Stephanie Abronson reminds us to download "What Do I Do With My Horse in Fire, Flood and/or Earthquake."
FIRE PREVENTION CHECKLIST
Using this checklist, walk through your barn and see what needs to be corrected.
EquineU.com, a division Action Safety Education, is offering a their FREE 15-page Emergency Planning Workbook as a PDF download.
A way to avoid the use of heat tapes! Read about Colorado Advanced Technology and the Freeze-Free Water Hose

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EVACUATING YOUR BARN IN A FIRE

How Does a Horse Behave in a Fire?

   There are different kinds of fires which can cause different behaviors.  In the case of wildfires, where fire storms can be created, there is so much noise and smoke outside the barn that it could be difficult to get the horses to leave the security of their barn.
   A fire that starts in a hayloft, however, may drive a horse to escape, so it’s possible (especially if your horses are accustomed to leaving the barn via a runway) that as soon as stall doors are opened,  the horses will leave the barn just as if they were going out to pasture.  My horses were trained to exit and enter the barn through a short runway.  Having accustomed them to this practice, I’m pretty sure they would leave the barn in this manner in an emergency if I remained calm and opened stall doors as I usually did  (I wrote an article about this, A Helping Hand—or Hoof,  that’s posted at the end of this article).  But don’t assume anything—always be prepared to lead the horses out of the barn.
   In their natural habitat, horses would have been escaping from prairie fires; they would race for a place of safety, such as crossing a river.  Panic in a barn fire comes from not being able to immediately escape, and then, from not being permitted to remain in a “safe” place—in this case, the stall. 
   The old movie scenes where horses were turned loose and ran through the fields and town were a great deal more romantic than practical.  There is no excuse for horses to be running free; in their flight from danger they will hinder fire-fighting operations, possibly cause traffic accidents, and at the least, inflict tremendous damage to landscaping.  Ideally, horses should be led some distance away and securely tied.  If the horses are turned out loose in a pasture, fasten the gate securely and make absolutely certain that no animal is left alone.  In such a high stress event, a horse left alone will often try to join the rest of the herd, even if it means breaking through fences.

This is why many horses die in fires:

   The majority of horses who die in barn fires die of smoke inhalation.  Even though they may be reluctant to leave their stall, their first reaction is often to try to climb a wall to escape.  This puts them right into the heaviest smoke, since smoke will spread out along the ceiling if there is one directly above the stalls (as in older bank barns converted from dairy to stables).  If there is no ceiling, and the flames have not broken through the roof  allowing smoke to vent, the smoke and all its toxic components will continue to push downward into the stalls.  All too often a fire smolders for awhile, releasing toxic gases that kill the barn occupants before anyone even realizes there is a fire. 

CONTINUED

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