Holy shit, barnfire!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Sweet mother of pearl. Dopers, how the hell do I express my gratitude to two phenomenal horsewomen who literally came to my mare’s rescue? I don’t know if they’d want to be named, so let’s call them Tina and Sharon.

I was leaving in appointment about an hour away from home when I got a call from a good friend Tina, who lives at the horse property next door to where I board my mare. She was frantic, saying the barn right next to Ana was on fire. (This was a former horse barn that, with a new owner, was now just used as storage.) Ana’s stall is right next to the property fence, and this barn was just on the other side. Tina, who has an injured knee, couldn’t climb the fence and didn’t have a key to open the property gate. She was calling to see if I could come open it; in the meantime, another friend of mine who lives there, Sharon, hopped the fence to get Ana out of her stall. (Before calling me, she had called emergency services–the fire department got there very quickly and were already there by that time.) At this point, the barn was completely engulfed in flames (she said they were easily ten foot high), and Sharon felt a “wall of heat” as she walked up to the stall. She also said the metal gate was so hot, it burned her hands to open it.

Ana was a bit nervous and dancey, but not panicked, though something(s) in the barn started exploding in the inferno and that agitated her. Sharon opened the gate, Ana bolted out (the property is fenced, so she wasn’t loose) and ran to the opposite corner of the property. There, she trotted and snorted before relaxing and starting to graze. (That’s my mare–“AH AH AH! …Ooh, is that food?”) Both Sharon and Tina praised Ana as being a very, very good girl considering–heh, they said they were more panicked than she was.

I had an hour drive to consider just how bad it could be, and I was surprised when I got there that this was, in fact, pretty much as bad as it could be without being a true, tragic disaster. If Tina had not happened to be down at her barn at the time, no one may have seen this fire until it spread up the hill and to the homebound elderly property owner’s house and beyond, with the horses below left to their pain and panic. It was 102 today and insanely dry, so there was plenty of fuel for this fire to take off and cause serious destruction to property and life.

I’m not being dramatic–I keep thinking I’m exaggerating, but then I revisit the photos. Take a look:

What remains of the neighbor’s barn. The partially burned wood platform on the lower left was actually on our side of the property, inbetween the fenceline and my mare’s stall. It had been laid there as storage–and I’m wondering if it happened to partially shield her from the flames.

To the left, my mare’s stall. To the right, the remnants of the barn. That’s an extra pipe corral panel there, not a fence. The white you see is the foam from the firefighters. You can also see how the grass on our side was scorched quite a ways into the property.

Partially melted wheelbarrow. You can see in the upper right where it had been sitting during the fire–there’s a rectangular area of unscorched earth.

Another, wider shot of Ana’s stall on the left, and the burned barn at the right.

I’m not sure what that is on the right, but that’s a melted tarp–used to shield from rain in the winter–on the left.

Ana looking at me from the formerly empty stall a few spaces down, wondering what I’m doing in her old stall.

Ana, adjusted and content and pretty as ever, while we’re the frazzled ones.

When I went back to feed this evening, I decided to hose her off in case there was residue from the fire. I’m glad I did–the moment the water hit her, there was a STRONG smell of soot and smoke. Ick. Also, washing off the dirty spots revealed what appears to be either a burn or a singe mark on her flank. It isn’t sore, just definitely missing hair. Yowsa.

Extra carrots for her tonight, that’s for sure. And a Corona for me. Or wine. Or both.

(Oh, and for the record, we’re all pretty darn certain of the cause of the fire. Let’s just say kids, don’t play with fire. M’kay? It’s under investigation–there were several detectives on site in addition to police officers and fire officials. We don’t believe it was malicious. Until it’s official, that’s all I’m comfortable saying for now. I will let you know when something Official is known.)

2

Thank goodness they were there to help!

3

Wow, you were so lucky! Lots of treats for Ana. And you need to bake cookies or something for Tina and Sharon.

Fire terrifies me. That’s why I’m glad that my horses just have their run-in. I can shut them i hte barn if I have to, but let them pick.

StG

4

I’ve only used it a handful of times. Fire-fighting foam is some wild and wonderful stuff when used in the right situations; here, it would have been used to suppress remaining hotspots so they don’t re-kindle.

Glad the horse is mostly OK. Watch those burns for infection.

5

Yikes, thank goodness for Tina & Sharon’s quick thinking and action! I’m so glad your mare is relatively unscathed and sounds to be doing well.

6

Not sure how, but yeah…you gotta thank them BIG. Especially the one that hopped the fence to save your horse. I’m thinking like really snooty ass bottle of wine big…or dinner at the best steak house around…something like that.

7

What wonderful people! I can’t think of what I’d do after being a sobbing grateful mess if somebody saved my cat from a fire, but they deserve something big for sure.

Virtual carrots from me to Ana. Such a pretty girl!

8

Wow. Thank god for happy endings!

9

Wow. I’m so glad it all turned out okay!

(Not to make light of your harrowing story, but when I read the thread title all I could think of was Robin saying, “Holy shit, Batman!” I thought for sure Barnfire was someone’s nickname.)

10

Thanks, Dopers, for your shared relief. Oakminster, boy howdy do I owe them big…but with large pay cuts and our second child going into daycare in a week, I can’t afford to spend big. Then again…I couldn’t afford the pricey vet bills that could have been. :eek: I want to bake cookies, but that seems so disproportionate. The three of us are going for an end-of-summer ride tomorrow, and I’d like to bring some token of my gratitude and appreciation. I just don’t know what, yet.

There’s an itty bitty blip of an article on the online edition of the paper about this. You can see it here. Since “Sharon” is mentioned by name here, I have no problem saying it’s Shelly. And yeah, she’s the mayor, although I never remember that. Heh. She’s just my riding buddy–and playdate buddy! Her youngest and my oldest are 2mos apart and have had many playdates this summer. The fact she’s the mayor–and lives right next door to where the fire happened–means I don’t think the ball is going to be dropped in the investigation. It does appear to be intentionally set, although I think it was a kid playing with something they shouldn’t in a way they shouldn’t and it got out of hand.

“Tina” isn’t mentioned at all in the article. Boo. And Shelly was not riding at the time the fire broke out–she’d been riding and saw kids playing in the barn. She went back up to her house and was called back down by a frantic Tina, who spotted the fire but was physically unable to get to my horse. Tina spotted the fire and called authorities (and everyone else); Shelly hopped the fence and got Ana out. Let’s hear it for accurate reporting. :rolleyes:

I visited Ana tonight, and she appears to have several rub marks on her. There are places on both sides of her hindquarters and flanks where the hair feels singed or rubbed; it’s not all gone, but decidedly thinner. Gotta wonder. I called my vet for his input, and he said just to watch for breathing problems. I lunged her tonight, getting that respiration rate up, to see if she’d cough or otherwise show distress. She seemed completely fine, but I didn’t push it much.

She had extra apples tonight.

11

Is she part - or all - Arabian? Beautiful face on that horse!

I also had a ton of trouble understanding your photos - barn? stall? those are outdoor pens - until I looked at your location and saw California (for some reason, I had it in my head you were more north than that). I’ve never seen a barn that didn’t have four walls, a roof, insulation and maybe some heaters as well! Canada, eh?

I’m glad things worked out as they did, and that Ana doesn’t seem to be too hurt. Also, kudos to Shelly and “Tina” for what they did - this could have been much worse of a tragedy.

Apples for Ana, and apple pie for Tina and Shelly? (I love apple pie…!)

12

Cookies are a fine tribute. Maybe do a couple batches, spaced out by a month or two. Maybe with a picture of Ana and a card in the package.

13

Thank goodness Ana is okay for her sake, your sake, and for the dumb kid who would have had to live with the fact that he hurt a horse if she had been injured or worse. She is a gorgeous horse! And apparently very calm and easy going. You must give her a great life.

14

Your building & zoning people allow this? Wow!

Even so, when you rebuild, I would not do this. Leave a reasonable distance between the buildings – enough so that it’s hard for a fire to jump from one building to the next.

15

Thank Og for good (great) neighbors.

Take them some cookies, heck, take them some treats for their horses. Maybe get your kids in on the thanks by making cards for Tina and Shelly. Oh, yeah, maybe do some campaign work for Shelly come election time.

Glad no one was seriously injured.

16

Hello fellow COTHer :smiley:

So glad your horse is ok! And the barn too of course. Terrifying to have it that close!

17

The article I linked earlier is down–I think they took it down to write a more detailed piece. Here’s a link to a more detailed article running today.

As the online paper doesn’t keep articles up for long, I’ll quote a touch of it here:

FTR, we were told at the scene that they do have programs designed for kids who do this sort of thing. While he won’t be arrested, he will have official consequences.

18

Oh, and right now, my plan is to go on a baking frenzy: a “Thank you” cake for the responding fire department, chocolate chip cookies for Shelly and Tina, homemade horse cookies (I have a great recipe) for their horses, and homemade “Pony Pop” (they’re like lollipops for horses) for their equines as well. Tina has 5 horses, and Shelly 2, so I’ve got to get to work!

As far as zoning goes–I have no idea about structures and property lines. I don’t own either property, I just board. I do know that barn was built at least 10 years ago by a prior boarder who leased both properties for her operation. However, she moved out and one of the property owners sold the house to non-horsey people, so the barn because a storage shed.

mnemosyne, yes, Ana is pure Arabian. 22 years young! And, heh, yeah to those not in the southwest, it doesn’t exactly look like a “barn.” She is kept in a large pipe corral. Now, the barn that erupted into flames was a true wooden barn with the half-door, roof, and the like. While Ana’s stall wasn’t going to erupt into flames, her manure and hay could have (as it was, my hubby pointed out smoldering little horse turds that the firefighters sprayed with foam), and she could have severely injured herself in a panic had the fire come over. As it was, she was very dancey-dancey to get out of there when Shelly released her.

A friend of mine made me chuckle–she was humored that Ana ran away than started eating. My friend said, well, wouldn’t you want a little comfort food? She said she’d be heading straight over to Ben & Jerry’s after enduring something like that. :wink:

**OH–I should point out, “Tina”'s husband is a Doper. **Dunno if he wants to reveal himself or not, so I won’t name him. Just goes to show, Dopers are great people who marry great people. :smiley: He was at work at the time, though. tsk

19

Ruffian - Can you post the horse treat recipes?

StG
Also a fellow COTHer

20

Sure! For the horse cookies…well, it’s all kind of thrown together, so I don’t know exact amounts. But here’s my best estimate:

3-4 cups oats (I just use Quick Oats)
1/2-3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
Several carrots
Water

Finely grind the carrots in a food processor. Mix the oats, brown sugar, molasses, and carrots, adding about a half cup of water at a time until the dough is damp and holds form, but not runny. Spoon and flatten dough (it’s not really a dough, more of a wet mixture, but you follow) onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for at least 20min; check texture and readiness every so often. Cookies will be more rubbery than crisp, but my mare is nuts for them. Since they have no preservatives, they will get moldy, so keep unused portions in the fridge or freezer.

For the Pony Pop–it’s a bit more complicated. You will need:
2 bundt pans (some use angel food cake pans–the small round pans with a hole in the middle)
Candy thermometer
2 cups Karo syrup
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup corn meal
3 cups sweet feed (I used senior feed)

Mix sugar and Karo syrup in a sauce pan on medium heat. Heat until it begins to boil, then cover a cook for 8 minutes. Remove cover and place candy thermometer. Cook the syrup/sugar mixture until it reaches 300 degrees (crackle stage). This is key–if the mixture isn’t hot enough, the pony pop won’t harden.

Quickly add the corn meal and sweet feed, alternating the additions and stirring quickly. This will begin to cool rapidly and stirring will get more complicated the longer you take. Pour the mixture into the two heavily greased bundt pans (I just use a generous amount of Pam) and allow to thoroughly cool before removing.

The hardened pops will fit into a Jolly Snack holder or a Likit, or you can run string through the hole to hang it, or you can just place it in a bucket.