Articles

There is a well-known adage in the horse world that states, in one manner or another, “If there is the remotest chance that something innocuous could become a hazard, you can guarantee that your horse will show you what it is.”

We all know what that means, usually from first-hand experience. If there’s one teeny, itty-bitty piece of wire in the pasture, some equine will get cut, scratched, punctured, or tangled up in it. That means we have to examine every item in our barn, and on our property, to determine if it could, in fact, become a hazard. We must walk through our barn, studying those everyday innocuous objects with an eye to potential dangers. We have to ask ourself, “What if. . .?”

Most of the following articles are written by Laurie Loveman, except where noted as a contributor article, included because it is particularly useful. Those articles are attributed and always published or linked to with permission.  New articles will be added periodically.

Prevention

If A Fire Starts

All articles were written by Laurie Loveman, unless otherwise noted as a contributor article.

Additional Contributor Articles:

Barn Fire Safety
John Stacy, Digital Marketing Manager at MDBarnmaster, offers some interesting statistics and suggestions for fire safety.

Rural Fire Safety Advice – Fire Risk Assessment
By Adam Engledow, Fire Consultant
Adam provides some universal fire prevention suggestions from a British viewpoint.

Fire In The Barn
By Pohla Smith
Psychological as well as physical effects from a barn fire can be devastating. If your barn catches fire, will your horses naturally flee to safety? Will they resist your efforts to evacuate them? Or will they run back to the barn if they are unsecured after you get them out? A combination of primal behavior, learned behavior, and the panic that even humans can succumb to in a hot, smoky, and flame-lit room can produce many different reactions.

Fires in factory farms are taking a heavy toll
By Andrew Hunt
Something horrible is happening in Canada and most Canadians probably aren’t even aware of it. An epidemic of factory farm fires have blazed across the country over the past several years, resulting in untold tens of thousands of animals being burned alive.

Insurance: Are You Covered?
By Stephen Hall
Can you think of a barn management chore more exciting than reviewing your insurance policy? OK, pretty much all of them. But when an accident happens or an injury or illness leads to a mountain of veterinary bills and legal defense fees, you will be glad that you took the time to make sure that your business has the coverage it needs.

OpEd News — March 27, 2010
Governor Strickland: Shut This Egg Inferno Down
By Martha Rosenberg
Once again, thousands of trapped animals have died from a factory farm fire.  250,000 hens at Ohio Fresh Eggs in Harpster died when firefighters “cut power to the chicken barns and ventilation systems to keep the flames from spreading,” say news reports.

Lessons Learned from a Barn Fire 
A fire creates an immediate need for action–not only for fighting the fire or evacuating animals, but for all the economic factors. Phone calls have to be made to feed dealers, insurance agents, the bank for arranging credit, and sources for helping employees and other involved people to work through their loss of animal(s) or loss-of-job fears. “Lessons Learned From a Barn Fire” by John Dietzwas published in National Hog Farmer in the May 15, 2004 issue and is pertinent to all animal facilities. I urge you to read how Manager Lorne Tannas handled the problems created by the fire that destroyed part of the Tobacco Creek Farm in 2003.

David Yates on Heating: I wrote David regarding the recent, overwhelming number of barn fire reports coming in and got an important response everyone should read.

Tips From a Fire Fighter
Contributed by Jim Clark-Dawe
Attorney at Law and Volunteer Fire Fighter
Author of  Equine Liability: What Every Horse Owner Needs to Know

Yates on Plumbing
Dave Yates owns F.W. Behler, a contracting company in York, Pennsylvania. He is a contributor to Contractormag.com, and with his great sense of humor showing through (yes, he’s had some experience with horses and other livestock), gives us some information about heat tapes.

See also: Red Cross – Preventing and Thawing Frozen Pipes

Consumer Product Safety Commission:
New Electric Heat Tapes Help Prevent Fires: Safety Alert

Hay Barn Fires by Mike Weider(PDF)

One comment

  1. Laurie, thank you so much for you blog. It is a treasure trove of information about barn fires. A subject I knew little about but which figures prominently in the chapter I am currently working on for my novel. Any chance I could pick your brain a bit about the timeline for a hay barn fire? Again thank you for all the valuable info I found on you site!!

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