Dog Community

Mom almost lost the barn last night...

Posted : 6/28/2006 12:20:31 PM

We pulled in to drop my sister and her family off (had been up there for a funeral), and saw smoke coming out of the barn. My husband, son , sister and her boyfriend started tracking it down (I stayed out in the driveway with my 6 year old niece). They were assuming it was one of the lights in the stalls. I heard my sister call out it was in her 2 year old filly's stall. That's where the smoke was, but the fire was in the next stall with the chickens. My sister had a large wooden box with newly hatched chicks in that stall. There was a heat lamp clamped to the box. Evidently, one of the older/half grown chicks had knocked the light into the box when it was trying to roost. The light had burned through the woodchips and the bottom of the box. The hay under the box was just starting to burn when we got there. Talk about timing! If we had gotten there any earlier, we wouldn't have seen the smoke, any later, and the barn would have been in flames. Besides the chicks, there were 2 mares with foals, my niece's horse, Ashley, (2) 2 year olds and 3 Nubian goats. Hopefully, my sister has learned a lesson and will keep the new chicks where nothing can knock the heat lamp over. When we left, she had them in a plastic tote, and was putting them in the tack room for the night. I think my youngest sister was watching over the barn. It was her dream to put a log barn in that spot. My folks put it up a year after she died.

probe1957

Posted : 6/28/2006 12:24:22 PM

We have horses. I am not into them especially but the wife and SD are. The thought of a barn fire sure is a scary one. We have a sprinkler system in our barn.