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View Full Version : Sad statistics - most preventable!!!!


lisa l aka marci
02-20-2007, 01:39 PM
For those of you who use heat-producing equipment to either help keep your animals warm, or to keep pipes from freezing - please read below for some interesting (and sad) statistics - these numbers are only from those reports our NFPA Technical Committee have taken off the internet and other news services - the actual numbers are probably much HIGHER!

.....................................

Laurie Loveman
Fire Safety in Horse Barns-Firehouse Family Novels
http://www.laurieloveman.com


Hello Everyone,

On Saturday, February 17th, feeling almost overwhelmed by the number of barn fire reports coming in, I tallied up the barn fire reports I received since January 1st where portable heaters, heat lamps and/or heat tapes were either the actual or possible cause of the fires. Sadly, the results were:



Total fires reported 53

Number of animals who died in these fires: 25,724 (this is not an exaggeration--several factory farms were involved)

Heat-producing equipment as cause of fire: 23

Electrical 7

Arson 1

Under investigation at time of report: 22



Although most of the heater-caused fires were in equipment used to provide heat for newborns, there were several instances where the equipment was used to keep pipes from freezing. So, when it comes to pipes, I turn to Dave Yates, owner of F.W. Behler contracting company in York, Pennsylvania, because he’s the expert. His link is posted on my bulletin board--please pass this information on to whomever you think can use it!



Thanks for caring,

Laurie



Learn how to keep your horse barn and horses safe from fire at http://www.laurieloveman.com

Find romance, mystery, firefighting and Appaloosa horses in the 1930s; meet the folks in my Firehouse Family novels MEMORIES, THE QUARRY, and THE FARM FIRES also at http://www.laurieloveman.com .

Abejita
02-20-2007, 03:46 PM
ok I live in York PA and never heard of F.W. Behler ..but I dont get out much...I will ask Steve as he used to work construction

greyhorsewoman
02-20-2007, 06:35 PM
We just had one in Columbia County, PA ... killed 13,000 chicks ...

http://penn.live.advance.net/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-46/1171864268287030.xml&storylist=penn

Heater to keep chicks warm is suspected culprit.

I remember back when I was an AKC inspector. Beautiful old horse barn burned down in 30 minutes (in Kimberton, PA) ... killed nearly 80 dogs. Again, heater on pups was culprit.

I worry about the old wooden barns. We have beams in our barn that came from ANOTHER old barn! (and our barn is about 100 years old) ... you can see the handhewn timbers and wooden pegs still in the used beams.