Horse Farm Systems – Fire Prevention

Fire in a barn is unimaginable yet I have seen a few and the results afterwards.  Fire scares me.  The best thing is to prevent it from happening.  The next best is to have a suppressant system in place.

Fires are usually accidental but some have been intentionally caused by someone with a deranged mind.  There is no real prevention for that.  For the others, there is diligence in examining and repairing anything Amis with your electrical systems.  Also never store flammable things in the barn.  This should go without saying.

What kills horses and people first is the carbon monoxide – the smoke.  Passing out is the only saving grace because the next step is burning.  Smoke detectors in the barn are useful if they work.  Dirt and fly excrement on the sensor may cause a malfunction.  Any system like this needs to be tested on a regular basis. 

Having doors from the stalls to the outside are lifesavers as it may be impossible to enter a smoked filled building let alone one on fire.  It is rumored that horses have frozen in their stalls in a fire.  There is no proof that this rumor is true.  They aren’t that stupid but they might go the wrong way in confusion.  Having an outdoor door will work,

Water dispensed through overhead pipes is the best insurance against loss of life and building in a fire.  Unfortunately it is usually beyond the means of most horse owners.  In an ideal world I would have them in my barn along with outside doors in the stalls that automatically open when the fire alarm goes off.  I haven’t seen that one yet but I would create it in my ideal barn.

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