Newsdate: Fri 15 January 2016 – 7:37 am
Location: MOUNT FOREST, Ontario

Twelve horses have perished in a barn fire in the second such tragedy to hit southern Ontario this month. The horses died late Thursday when fire erupted at a private farm in Mount Forest, Ont., northwest of Guelph.

Barn fire scene where 12 horses died

Twelve horses died in a barn fire that erupted at a private farm in southern Ontario, Canada.
© 2015 by Dave Richie

This fire follows a devastating blaze on Jan. 4, in which 43 standardbred horses perished in a stable fire at the Classy Lane Stables in Puslinch.

A person who answered the telephone at the Mount Forest property early Friday said all 12 horses were Arabian. He said he preferred not to comment further as they were “still trying to deal with it.”

Mount Forest fire chief Dave Guilbault said he had been informed that one or possibly two horses had escaped the blaze, which erupted at about 10 p.m. “It’s a large pasture here, so we know for sure one got out.”

Guilbault said one person at the property, where the horses are both owned and boarded, suffered minor injuries. “One gentleman was taken to hospital for precaution with a little bit of smoke inhalation and anxiety,” he told The Canadian Press.

Guilbault said the blaze was contained to a single structure and that firefighters had “put up a water curtain … so there’s no damage to the house nearby.”

He said although it was too early to say what caused the fire, he said there is speculation that a tractor might have caught on fire. Guilbault said investigators from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office were expected to be on the scene Friday morning to begin looking for the cause.

The Jan. 4 fire at the Classy Lane Stables in Puslinch has had a devastating impact on the horse racing community in southern Ontario.

Co-owner Jamie Millier said the economic impact reached deep into the closeknit, horse-oriented community and that groomers, veterinarians, blacksmiths and other professionals in the industry would feel the effects of the deaths for months to come.

Trainer Dan Lagace, who lost seven horses he had worked with, said the fire was more than just a professional catastrophe — it was akin to losing members of a family.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.