Thank you God.. my family...friends...

[Jasfino]

forestry department... horse guardian angels...

Today I get a call at work. It was my hubby telling me in a very calm voice.. "Jennifer.. The horses are ok..." I am thinking.. why is he calling me at work telling me the horses are ok.. something must have happened at the barn.. its my dad... He goes on to say.." Stay calm.. dont panic.. there is a fire. Kristen (PasoJosieJ) just called to tell me that the forestry department is there at the barn with bulldozers and they think they have the fire controlled!!!" What??? I scream into the phone.. A fire?? He says yeah.. a farmer was combining his corn.. when his tractor caught fire.. and us being in the worst drought since I dont know when.. the whole field ignitied.. like a wildfire.. in 30 mile hour winds......

Jump to the scene...

My mom and dad were coming home from the grocery store.. when they neared the house to see smoke.. coming from the field behind their house. My brother and his wife were at the same time driving to town.. when they see the fire from several miles away. They think it is my parents house. They fly down the road and drive to my parents house...and arrive at the same time. My brother jumps out of his car and heads back to the field to see how close it is. My mother runs in the house... jumps on the phone to 911 and tells them they are in the path of a field fire.. It is heading directly toward their house and barn.. of 17 horses. She then calls all the local fire departments. Meanwhile neighbors.. friends and relatives are gathering.. trying to do whatever they can to help. Kristen and my dad gather the water hoses and start to water down the hay barn.. and around the horse barn. Neighbors and friends.. help to water down the house. The field was on fire with flames as high as the horse barn..with smoke so thick that they couldnt see the neighbors home. My brother jumps into his car and heads down to where the firefighters are beginning to gather (this fire was huge).. and they send a fire truck down to water down the fire. The forestry department arrives on the scene with a bulldozer.. god bless that man.. he heads into the thick smoke to create a line to stop the fire. It appears to work. All our horses luckily were in the barn..as our fence burns and flames get closer. Neighbors and friends offer to trailer the horses out .. but decide to wait.. Some think they should turn them out.. My dad decides that the pastures.. they have already been picked clean.. and nothing but dirt.. will offer some protection from the fire.. but with the winds and all the dry corn fields around our farm..? It in the end.. it stops 300 feet from our barn. Thank you God.. and the forestry department... and everyone that was there on the scene. I arrived after all the chaos.. and its a good thing I did.. because I would have surely paniced.. My brother said he figured I would have turned the horses out.. and then fainted... :-?

After it was all over.. they think that at least a few hundred acres of farm land was burned. No homes were lost.. but there were several close calls. My dads hay field.. is burned to a crisp.. and many beautiful trees destroyed. When I left the barn this morning at 1 am.. they said there would be people there all night to watch for any hot spots. I wont sleep well tonight...but

Thank God it wasnt worse. Thank you God!! and my brothers quick thinking to go to the firefighters to direct them right in the nick of time.. ..and our amish neighbors who came with the fire truck to help.. so many more.. I am still in shock..

[Edurne]

Gosh, what a horror. so glad you are all well..... you, your family and your animals.

[Jane Hurl]

You jsut lived a farmer's worst nightmare. Thank God it wasn't worse! Thank God all of you are okay.

[Jasfino]

(((hug))) Edurne and Jane....

I always think about fires.. I have never liked stalling my horses.. even though they love their fans.. Every night when I leave the barn.. I think about a fire as I leave.. You just never know when you could face something so scary.. I am not sure if I can keep stalling mine at night..even though that is where they are at tonight. You just never know when something like this can happen..

I live 7 miles or so from my parents barn.. and can smell the smoke where I am.. It was so dark with all the smoke.. that in the middle of the afternoon... my nephew had to use his headlights just to see to drive... :shock:

[Edurne]

Sounds like you are still in shock..... you aren't home alone by any chance are you? thank God for your quick thinking family.

[Jasfino]

yep.. I am home alone.. but I am doing okay..

I just cant get my mind to stop turning it all over..and over..

I know I need to try to get some sleep... :cry: thanks edurne for being up and online...((hug)) You never know when someone just needs to feel like there is someone else out there .. it all seems so unreal.. like I've just watched a scene out of a movie... :shock:

[Edurne]

APF never sleeps..... :hug

[Abejita]

Glad everything is ok ,and look at the silver lining..your dad's hay field that burned..well when you start getting rains you will probably have one of the nicest hay fields around! Mother nature uses fire to cleanse..and thankfully it stopped before it got to the barn and house..

[lisa l aka marci]

I'm VERY glad things worked out OK......in my line of work we see too many instances like this.....

Sounds like your family knew just who to contact, and did not waste time!

As for turning the horses out in the event of a fire.......there are mixed thoughts about that - for firefighters, we teach them to get the horses/animals into a pen or pasture, NOT just turn them loose - then you have a worry of them running back into a barn, or injuring emergency workers.....

However, it is much easier to clean up scrapes and boo-boos from being turned into a 'safe' pasture together than burns.......

Go give all the horses an extra hug!!!!!

One thought - for emergency preparedness (and this is for EVERYONE!) - teach your horses to take a blindfold - many will not want to leave the perceived safety of a stall in the event of a fire......a dark colored T-shirt works great - nose sticks out through the neck and the body of the shirt goes over the head/eyes - no need to try to tie anything.....

Make sure Emergency services (fire dept) is familiar with the facility - invite them over for a drill, if they are not used to handling or being around horses, set up a meet-and-greet......

I'll be teaching my horse handling class again in about a month to firefighters from across NYS and beyond......it is PRICELESS!!!!!

Lisa

[Barbwire]

Gosh, what a terrible thing to have to go through. I am so glad you are all ok and noone was hurt. I hope you are in bed right now getting some sleep. :hug

[GregM]

Thank heaven everyone, human and horse, is OK. I can't imagine anything more frightening than fire in the barn. Best of luck getting back to normal.

[CarolU]

Glad to read all is okay. That is my nightmare for sure. What a scary, SCARY thing.

There is so much drought this year...your neighbor's story is being told her over and over. So much farm and range land destroyed this year.

[Carol Nelson]

God bless, Jazz...!!! Thank goodness all turned out ok.
But Abejita is right ....after living in NM, where there are range fires every year, we saw it continually. Since you're in a drought those crops probably weren't much to speak of anyway, and now when the rains start again, those fields will come back better than ever! And it will be FAST...within days!
But the loss of life and property is hard to cope with and thankfully you did not have to go through that!
(We so take for granted our firefighters, don't we...but everyday they risk their lives to protect us and ours....)

[Laura S]

Wow, what a nightmare, but glad all the horses are ok.

And thanks for the info Lisa, I'm going to get my horses used to blindfolds. Thank goodness I live in farm country. Most of the volunteer firemen already know how to handle large animals.

[Pasogirlz]

I'm so glad everyone is ok. (((Hugs)))

[moonrize]

Wow Jenn, glad all the horses and people are fine. Very scary to deal with I'm sure. Watch the horses for any signs of a cough from all the smoke.

[JennLM]

Holy cow! I would have freaked too.

I am so glad no one or any animals were hurt. I am sorry the hay field was lost.

How scarey it must have been with it so close.

[Mellifluous]

Scary! I am glad that no-one lost homes or animals.

Such a scary experience! I am glad the dozer got on the scene quickly!

[jodiTowne]

WOW! Scarey. So glad everyone is OK. Give all those horses hugs!

[Cindy]

As for turning the horses out in the event of a fire.......there are mixed thoughts about that - for firefighters, we teach them to get the horses/animals into a pen or pasture, NOT just turn them loose - then you have a worry of them running back into a barn, or injuring emergency workers.....


Lisa, many years ago there was a fire in Malibu that threatened many homes and farms. A lot of horses were lost because the people turned them loose thinking they would be safer. They ran right into the fires and burned to death. Do not turn horses out were they can run into the fire.

[Linda Y]

What a nightmare! Glad everything turned out ok! :shock:
We used to have to put up with that same thing every year...the deer
hunters would set the woods on fire purposely. One year it burned up to less than 300 feet of the barn. And at that time, I lived in FL and the barn is in MS! My friend that boards her horses here had trailers ready, and the fire dept. called out. Fortunately they got it put out before it got to the house and barn.
Very scary stuff!

[Heidi]

Great Googley Moogley, but you have lived my WORST fear!
I am very glad everything turned out okay.

[Jasfino]

I am just getting up and reading all your posts. (((hugs))) to everyone for all your kind thoughts and words.

I am going to try to find out who was driving that bulldozer. They said he headed into the fire line and you couldnt even see the dozer for the thick smoke.. They heard it stop once.. and was afraid it was on fire. He really is a hero. There were so many normal everyday heros. Like my brother whose quick thinking directed the fire fighters there in a hurry when it looked like all would be lost. My other brother who was on the scene told my parents to get any important papers out of their house.. it was so close. Kristen who helped water down the hay barn. My mom and dad had already decided if it came down to it... they would tell the firefighters to direct their efforts to the horse barn instead of the house. My other hero.. and neighbor.... Courtney and her husband Sam.. came down and offered to trailer or walk the horses out to their house down the road. Sam also helped to water down my parents house. Our amish neighbors came and walked behind the firetrucks. My dad whose calm thinking prevailed.

I am going to get my horses used to blindfolds. Primero is stalled on the very end of the barn... had a good view of the fire and was very scared. Kristen helped to calm him down afterwards. The mothers with the foals were acting different she said. She said Jasper acted as if nothing had happened.. he couldnt see the fire.. but I know he smelled the smoke. My neighbor who came down said she could feel the heat of the fire at her house.. :shock:

We are very lucky they were stalled when the fire broke out. Dad has been letting them out at daybreak.. and getting them in around 10 each morning because of the heat. The field that they stay in was next to the fire line. That fence line was burned. I can only imagine their reaction to the flames and smoke... if they had all been out to see the fire approaching.

[Terry Wallace]

Wowzer..what a horror story. I'm so glad it was brought under control.
How scary..I can just imagine how quickly the fire spread on a tender dry field....

[Monty]

Holy Cow! I know the feeling - I get so nervous and angry when idjit neighbors shoot off fireworks when we haven't had rain !
Glad to hear you had a happy ending!
Fire is bad and, so is flooding - heard someone on one of the horse sites for Wisconsin lost a filly in the flooding in SW WI! And other horses and cattle are missing!

[Brigitte]

That is sooo scary, I'm happy everything turned out alright

[My Pasos]

I know that must have been very frightening!! I am RELIEVED to hear that nothing was lost!!!

[Bonnie M]

Wow! I am so happy that you guys didn't lose anything that can't grow back!

I went through something along the same lines when I was in junior high, only a much smaller scale!

My mom picked me up from school and said we had to get to the farm that there had been a fire! My heart stopped, all I could think of was the horses. She said she didn't know what had happened, but the horses were okay.

We got to the farm and I couldn't find the horses anywhere! I was starting to loose it when someone told me they had been tied up behind the house.

Thank God the man who helped out on the farm was there and saw the fire in the pasture, he got ropes and caught the horses and got them out of the pasture before it went up in flames.

A neighbor had seen some stupid kids playing out behind the pasture in the orange grove and think they started it.

I'd hate to think of what could have happened if that man wasn't there.

I too think about fires every single day. If I'm not going to be home, I have been turning the horses out because I am scared one of the stall fans will catch on fire.

[Jasfino]

I too think about fires every single day. If I'm not going to be home, I have been turning the horses out because I am scared one of the stall fans will catch on fire.

I do too. I am gonna be twice the basket case after this close call... I worry about our stall fans every night when I leave.

[PasoJosieJ]

I am very glad everything turned out the way they did, it could of been much much worse :( . It was awful. I hope it never happens again I still get shills and cry everytime I read about it even though I was there :cry:

[PLEASURE PASOFINO]

(((((((((((((( HUGS)))))))))))))))))) I am very glad everything turned out SAFED!!!!!!!


Saludos!

[motorgypsy]

So glad everyone is safe!!! Makes me wonder if misters aren't better than fans since there is no electricity for them???? You certainly have some great family, neighbors and firefighters!!

Fires scare me to death. The house behind us burned to the ground when I was 17 years old. We watched the neighbor climb out of her bedroom window. The house three doors down also burned from a kitchen fan that was vented into the attic and grease built up and caught fire. The house next door to us burned down when we were first married. The light of the flames woke me up. They weren't home luckily. We had a fire in the pine woods right across the street from our apartment complex also. The fire was shotting sky high as one after another of the pines exploded in flames. I threw the cat in a pillow case, grabbed the beagle and ran out of the apartment and drove to safety. It was terrifying! I called Kyle with my ham radio to head him off on the way home from school and told him what had happened. He said "All you took was the cat and the dog????" I said - well nothing else was important!! He just shook his head and grinned at me!! Luckily the wind changed direction just as the fire reached the road in front so none of the buildings were burned but it just dumb luck that kept us safe.

I do think it's best if horses have a way to get out of the barn into a large paddock or pasture but just turning them loose into an unfenced burning area knowing how dumb they can be seems like a very bad idea.