[goodhors]

I attended a 2-day clinic this weekend put on by our local Driving Club. The Clinician is a retired Fire Fighter and horse owner. He is trained in large animal rescue and people emergencies as well. Used to live and work in Florida, near the Wellington area with all the horse showing and fancy farms.

The first point of the Clinic was to train Fire and Emergency personnel who arrive at a barn fire or a horse related accident. He trained them how horses think, react, so the Responders could work with the animal or avoid getting hurt by skipping a horse who is dangerous, saving the rest who are not dangerous in this terrible situation.

Clinician explained the almost NEVER do you get a Responder who knows ANYTHING about horses! Most Responders are AFRAID of horses and will not know what to do with them. This was why he was there, to help Responders learn something about equines and help train the other Responders so PEOPLE in fire situations, accidents, were able to stay safe.

People in ANY SITUATION are ALWAYS more important than the animal. You can not risk or allow people to risk themselves, to save animals, is how Fire and Responder personnel are trained to think.

He first talked to us non-Responders about Farm Safety from the Fire Department viewpoint. We NEED to look at our farm, home setup, to prevent fires and have a PLAN in case the worst happens.

He started with a person first finding a fire, whether a passerby, or your own barn. CALL 911 FIRST. If you use a landline, the answering 911 operator will usually have the address from the phone in her system. Calling from a cell phone, you NEED to give address, number and road location. Cells only tell the operator the nearest cell tower, could be five miles away! Don't call for help from a cell and hang up!! Phones don't work like on TV, with them locating you by back tracing. Huge waste of time trying to find the accident or farm, if you hang up. 911 has to probably wait for the next emergency caller to find location to run to.

Then from the road, Responders have to find the correct road, driveway, ADDRESS. He showed us a sign on the back wall of hall, with stick-on letters in 1-2-3-4-5-6 inch sizes in reflective letters. No one could read them until the letters got up to 5-6 inch sizes!! Then you add in Responder driver trying to get there quickly, having to slow down for EVERY mailbox with tiny letters, adds to response time.

Next is entrance to barn. Fire trucks are HUGE, weigh over 100,000 pounds, LONG and TALL! Can this truck even GET IN the drive? Will driveway hold it up or cause truck to get mired down? Is there a padlocked gate or key coded security gate to prevent entrance?

Here is where he stopped to explain that WE OWNERS, barn managers, NEED to have a PLAN for a fire. He gave us handouts for the "perfect" farm, that showed an Emergency Paddock, total Farm layout. Spooky young horses, Stallions, need to be close to the door, to evacuate first, since they would probably be the most reactive with smoke and noise. Steady type horses more towards the middle, so they would be more likely to be easier to handle as time ran out. Any horse fighting, just pass him by. Get the quiet ones first, don't get hurt. Take them to the Emergency Paddock and turn them out there. Shut gate behind horses.

He strongly suggested that we make such a paper Farm plan, put it in a plastic box marked FIRE, beside the road gate for the firemen to find and use. With paperwork layout, a coordinated plan under one Chief directing, things run much smoother, FASTER.

So as the Fire Responders come in the driveway, is there ROOM for the truck? No overhead signs with Ranch/Farm name? No low electric lines to snag on ladders? Overhead trees to hit the TALL truck? A straight shot into the barn area or windy driveway they can't make the corners with? Near the barn is there any place for them to go? Space for the truck to set up, men running around to lay hose?

This part REALLY made me think of the pretty barns and landscaping, with the pickup truck size driveways. There is NO ROOM for a Firetruck!!

He told us we needed to get out an look at our barns, see them as they truly are. Any brush or trees near and overhanging the barn iteself? Junkpiles of stuff we always "mean" to take care of but have not? These are fire hazards, impede men working around the barn to get water on the fire. Implements that are parked alongside, to need working around? Vehicles like tractors, trucks, that have fuel in them that will explode when heated? Firemen can't work by them!

Then the barn itself. NEEDS two CLEAR aisle exits. He showed us photos of barns with tack trunks and junk hanging from the walls of SKINNY aisleways. Barn with great exits until you get close, then the one end door was TOTALLY blocked with gates, junk, to make barn effectively a one door barn.

Sliding doors are MUCH the best, don't take up any stall or aisle space. Firefolks have to work around the swing area of hinged doors, gives them much less room to manuever a horse out. Clogs up an aisle for exits, upset horse will overreact in a small stall, then swing-in door takes up more floor space.

What is there for Fireman to grab horse with? Remember that Responders are NOT horse folks, WON'T know how to halter a horse. It was suggested that Farm Owners have hooks outside stalls with bright color ropes in 10ft pieces, so Fireman can make an emergency halter with it. We practiced halter making, took about 15 seconds, and I can't halter a cooperative one in that time. Large carabiner clips on those ropes if your horses are haltered all the time, allows FAST clipping on of leads by thick gloved hands. Try putting on a lead with Welding Gloves, see how your fingers work! Special horse snaps, bull snaps, quic-release snaps, are beyond the Fireman knowing or being able to use when fully equipped in Fire Fighting dress. The Responders at the Clinic had NO KNOWLEDGE of how to work the snaps!! Carabiners were 3" long, went on any halter part quick.

He asked us to REALLY look at what we have stored around the barn. Gas cans should be in a different building. Hay and shavings should be out of the way, not in aisle or in front of stalls, blocking doors. Great if you can haul needed amount in daily, sometimes you can't. But everyone CAN keep aisles clean of chaff, hot exhaust pipes away from flamable materials. No running extension cords. Scary photos with add-ons in an outlet, 4 to 8 cords coming off! Get outlets put in for plugs where you need them. One of his biggest fire causes was cheap, heated pet waterers. They OVERHEAT and catch on fire. So keeping Fluffy the cat with a drink, has cost you the price of barn and contents. Bucket heaters are next in line, overheat and catch something on fire.

Then he showed photos of show stabling, outlets overloaded, miles of extension cords, with plugs in STANDING WATER or where the spigots drain off!! YIKES! He told of hauling long distances to shows, then just leaving because of the terribly unsafe setups in the stabling. No response from Show Management to change the dangerous situations.

Also photos of things found at Show stabling, were the MATCHING Full Curtains, where stall latches were totally covered, Fire folks could not get a horse out if they tried. Canvas covered walls of temporary stalling, latches again covered and not visible or almost unusable in quick horse removal. Fancy tack trunks, hay, shavings, stall hooks, in the aisle, blocking quick in and out. Narrow aisle made even narrower to try leading a horse in or out.

Does your farm have a pond, pool, someplace to refill the fire truck? He and Responders agreed the first truck will have about 7500 gallons, which is about 8 minutes worth. Then they need a refill or next full truck in. YIKES, not much time for fire fighting! Water supply needs to be within 25ft of truck to be able to use it, with a good road or dry hydrant so truck can get beside to fill up.

He covered MUCH MORE with lots of details, photos. But right off the top of my head, these were the main points for barn fires.

He STRONGLY suggested that Farm Owners have the Fire Dept come visit. Invite them out, get them familiar with your setup, ASK them for suggestions of improving how you keep things for fire prevention. The Fire guys REALLY VIEW things in a totally different way than non-Fire trained folks do. They spot stuff right off, that needs to be changed. The barn we practiced at had spring tension locking bars for the sliding stall doors. With all his experience, he had NEVER seen those kind of doors before. Suggested marking the spring bar with reflective tape for firemen with flashlights in smoke, to know which bar to use. Garage door opener was opposite of the wall with door, HARD to find anytime. Again, reflective tape to help find it. Barn owner thinks they will put some OUTSIDE door buttons for easier access to the garage doors on aisle ends.

With a barn fire, there is very little time to do anything, every second counts. Firemen are not knowledgable about horse equipment, all the special equipment we have developed. So we as Owners, need things foolproof, to maximize their time in the barn saving horses. Horses in the Clinic reacted very differently with the smoke machine, how fast the aisle filled and visiblilty vanished, to being approached by a BIG person in full Fire gear with radio and airtank running. And these were the CALM horses, so our Fire Folk could learn horse reactions!! They got the emergency halters on, got the horse moving to lead out of barn. All new to the Fire Folks. Have to admire their trying so hard, they were TERRIFIED of the horses, both pony and tall Sporthorse. Still they kept working with the animals, got the basics down, practicing to learn control, till they were much more confident.

Clinic covered a BUNCH more stuff with rescuing downed horse with rider under, horses in holes to pull out, with Responders first, then the rest of us attendees, using common items like tow straps. Really learned a LOT and more on how to think in emergency situations. Clinician said we could be of great aid to Responders if we told them we had Large Animal Rescue training, but Responders would be in charge ALWAYS. Working together in a Team, would make a situation safer for all, get a faster response to aid the PERSON first, keep animal under control to prevent other injuries. Amazing how fast you can wrap and roll a horse over, pull out the victim, as we practiced with a fiberglass animal.

So as horse owners, we need to get our barn and farm setup looked at, changed to a safer location for keeping our equines in. Make friends with your Fire Dept, get them to visit, evaluate what needs changes that you can do. I am still looking at our place with "New EYES" to see what can be improved. More fire extinguishers as a start, right beside the entance doors where you can reach them FAST.

[draftdriver]

Lots of useful information here. Thanks for posting.

I've tried to get my local Fire Chief interested in large animal rescue. I've even offered to let my horses be used for 'get acquainted' sessions for Fire Fighters to learn about leading, etc. He wasn't at all interested.

[Laurierace]

I attended something like that many years ago. I was at the track at the time so I don't have any control over most of the things you stated but what I did learn and have incorporated ever since is to leave halters on my horses at all times. I used to have cutesy nylon halters that I put on the horse while I was actively working with them and then hung them on the stall door. After the presentation I threw them all away and bought leather halters for all my horses. Some of them got rubs behind the ears so I bought them sheepskin fuzzies for the poll. I also have a lead rope in front of each stall. Basically what I got out of it is they would grab the easiest horses to grab equipment-wise and then move along.

[Hokie Rider Alum]

We lost our house that was under construction a year and a half ago to fire, and another thing to consider is that if the first tanker truck doesn't get the fire out, it is pretty much a lost cause. Have a back up plan for water. As we finally are rebuilding, we will be putting in a sprinkler system. The firemen flat out told us, in the country, it is the only thing that might save our house. I don't know that that is feasible in a barn, but is something to consider with your house.

[JSwan]

Wow - what a thorough presentation. You're lucky to have a guy like that around.

Around here most firefighters have experience with large animals, so hopefully they would be able to assist my livestock. I also have dutch doors on the outside of stalls. I pray they're never needed for an emergency.

We tried to do everything possible to prevent fire. Noncombustible siding. Wire run in conduit. GFCI outlets. No hay in the barn. Fire extinguishers.

It's never enough, is it.

One of the reasons I want the pond dredged is to provide water for tankers. Not just for my place - but in case a neighbor needs it.

Thanks for sharing that information.

[kookicat]

Interesting.

One of the first things I did when I moved to my current farm was installed sprinklers in all of the stables, the hay barn and the feed room. There is also a hydrent in the middle of my yard (it was there when I moved in) I've been through a house fire- I never want to go through a fire in my yard. Never. Yes, the sprinklers cost me a fortune, and I'm still paying them off, but they're well worth it for my peace of mind.

I never thought about the clips on the leadropes. I'll buy some of those other clips and put them on a leadrope to stay outside of the stables. The reflective tape sounds like a good idea too- I can do that right now.

[frugalannie]

Well done by the organizer, the participants and the poster.

Thank you!

[2DogsFarm]

goodhors: excellent post!

My little farmette has many of the fire-safety features you mentioned and suggests some easy changes I can make to feel even safer.

I'll ask my local FD to make a visit if possible. That alone would give me some peace of mind.

Did your clinic have any suggestions for pastured horses?
My guys are out 24/7 but do have free access to come in to the stalls to nap or munch.
I imagine they would flee to the larger pasture if the barn caught on fire. Stall doors to outside are always left open and a gate could be closed to keep them in that field.

I have no pond and not sure my well would supply enough water, but there are several subdivisions about 1/4 mile down the road and they all have retention ponds - could those be a water source for firefighters?

[MunchkinsMom]

Thanks for posting that helpful information.

I used to board in a big barn in CT, and once a year the would invite the fire fighters to the farm to get them familar with the farm, and horse handling. Always good to be prepared.

[goodhors]

Did your clinic have any suggestions for pastured horses?
My guys are out 24/7 but do have free access to come in to the stalls to nap or munch.
I imagine they would flee to the larger pasture if the barn caught on fire. Stall doors to outside are always left open and a gate could be closed to keep them in that field.

I have no pond and not sure my well would supply enough water, but there are several subdivisions about 1/4 mile down the road and they all have retention ponds - could those be a water source for firefighters?

If the horses were out when the barn caught, I would shut the gate to the big field, to PREVENT them coming back to barn, getting in the way or hurt.

The Clinician was emphatic, that horses will not leave the barn. even with the door to pasture or turnout in front of them. They return or stay in stalls until the smoke kills them. He has seen ONE horse, with a burned rump, come out and stay out of the burning barn, long enough to get grabbed before it could try to reenter.

So he said that no one should count a horse being wise enough to leave the barn, even with the door open in front of him to a field. Horses WILL NOT follow another one if stall doors are left open. You have to have a rope on them or some way to force horse out of his "safe" home stall. The safety paddock is to prevent them running back into barn or up and down the aisle hurting someone. Just amazing, but they don't want to leave, even when options are right in front of them.

I do think the ponds down the road could be a great option to have avialable to the Fire Dept. You and other homeowners should get together with the pond owners, talk about it. The Dry Hydrant he showed is an access point for the Fire Truck to get water from. Basically a pipe near a water supply, with firm ground for the truck to park and pull water from. Would work beside pond, deep running water ditches, a river that stays high.

Having the ponds set up to draw water from, kept dredged clean, would benefit everyone in the subdivision with big water supply so close. Maybe a contract to split costs of maintaining ponds, adding dry hydrant points, could make them very usuable for everyone in a local area. Having a local neighbor meeting, with the Fire Dept talking about the benefits, might swing a yes answer, for getting things done. Fire Dept APPRECIATES having extra water supply close at hand, that they can safely approach and pull water from. Makes them more able to do their job of saving people and property.

Swimming pools are usable if within the 25ft of Fire truck to pull water from. Seems they can't get water out well enough to refill truck, if distance is further. I was rather shocked at how fast the water is used up, 7500 gallons sounds like a lot, but might get you just that 10 minutes time for another truck to arrive with more water.

We don't have a well that could supply that kind of water supply, no pond, pool, river either, close to do much good.

Do have a number of the other good features like big, solid driveway, open barnyard, no junk around the barns. Need to get extra plain ropes up for emergency halters hung up. Will be changing the leading ropes over to carabiners from dog snaps, see how that works. Those ropes are only used for leading, never tied with them. Need to practice leading everyone with an emergency halter rope rigged up, get them obedient and easy to handle in ropes. Also need to get the local Fire Dept folks to come visit, get suggestions from them.

The Clinian does Training Clinics for Responders, now that he is retired. Club got a Grant from a Hospital to hire him so the Area Responders were trained for Large Animal Rescue, Accidents with Large Animals, Fires, for better responses in these situations. Huge amount of horses in this area, so they probably get quite a few horse related accidents and incidents with the large animals being involved. We non-Responders sure benefitted from the information,and all went home with plans to modify our barns and farms for fire safety. Oddly enough, I now feel very confident that I could come across an accident with a horse in trouble, and aid Responders, SAFELY. Probably the practice sessions with straps and working as a Team to do things helped. Just was an amazing Clinic.

[JSwan]

I have no pond and not sure my well would supply enough water, but there are several subdivisions about 1/4 mile down the road and they all have retention ponds - could those be a water source for firefighters?

Yes. Around here dry hydrants are installed.

Here is what they look like.

http://www.co.larimer.co.us/wildfire...nt_concept.htm

http://www.dryhydrants.com/

I think our VFD has pumps too.

[2DogsFarm]

Thanks Jswan - I've seen those near the subdivisions
Good to know what they are

goodhors: My guys are out much more than they are ever in the stalls.
They really only come in when they see me coming to feed.
I hope this would translate to them staying out if I weren't home when a fire happened.
It would be relatively easy for anyone to close the big gate and restrict them to that field.
Actually barn is located centrally between two pastures and both can be closed off from the barn with a single gate.

[Hokie Rider Alum]

For those of you that have dry hydrants near them, be sure the fire department will use them. After our fire, we talked to the fire department about them, andthey said they will only use them if they are certified as far as maintenance goes, because there is too much risk to their trucks if there is gunk/roots/dirt in the hydrant. They said they won't use any that they don't get a yearly maintenance certificate for.

[draftdriver]

I have no pond and not sure my well would supply enough water, but there are several subdivisions about 1/4 mile down the road and they all have retention ponds - could those be a water source for firefighters?

Yes, our rural FD has pumps and shuttle water tankers for just such a purpose. They are
trained and certified as being able to provide as much water via shuttle tanker as they could if they were pumping from a fire hydrant. This was supposed to help lower insurance costs, but for some reason my insurance company won't, even though I supplied them with a copy of the certification and a letter from the Fire Chief.

[trubandloki]

As we finally are rebuilding, we will be putting in a sprinkler system. The firemen flat out told us, in the country, it is the only thing that might save our house. I don't know that that is feasible in a barn, but is something to consider with your house.

You were some what misled. The purpose of a sprinkler system is to slow the fire enough so there is no human loss. It does not and will not (for sure in a house sized system where it is only sized for two heads to operate at once) save the house from burning down.

Sprinkler systems are not like they show on TV and the movies. The activation of one head does not make them all gush water. One head activated means one head flows water.

Most houses do not have a water service sized large enough to do you much good (past a few heads) anyway.

A note - in a few years all new construction (houses) will require sprinklers.

[Fireangel]

My neighboring fire company is puting on a demo by York County Animal Response Team. I will be attending. I am a FF/EMT but as far as I can remember we have not had a large animal incident. Anyway I am hoping to be able to join this team or at least gain much more knowledge to add to my brain. I will let you all know how it goes. Its not until the end of April.

Your clinician sounded like he knew what he was talking about. I am interested to see how many on this team actually have horses or livestock...

[draftdriver]

A note - in a few years all new construction (houses) will require sprinklers.

That's coming in up here, too. I can see that it would be helpful in urban situations where houses are on water services, but in rural areas? I don't know. If the electricity to the water pump gets fried, (which I'm thinking might happen quite quickly in a fire), the sprinklers will not work. They also won't work during a power outage, or if the pipes freeze. I can see the costs and problems outweighing the benefits in a rural situation.

[Hokie Rider Alum]

You were some what misled. The purpose of a sprinkler system is to slow the fire enough so there is no human loss. It does not and will not (for sure in a house sized system where it is only sized for two heads to operate at once) save the house from burning down.

Sprinkler systems are not like they show on TV and the movies. The activation of one head does not make them all gush water. One head activated means one head flows water.

Most houses do not have a water service sized large enough to do you much good (past a few heads) anyway.

A note - in a few years all new construction (houses) will require sprinklers.

I never said it wouldsave a whole house. If a fire is started in one room, the fire sprinkler will contain it in that spot, and therefore have much more of a chance to save the house when the fire truck with limited water comes. That room would probably be a loss, as well as water damage around. After seeing my whole house go up in flames in 15 minutes, any little bit would help. The firemen are the ones who told us how they work, and we have also done alot of research with sprinkler companies as well. Hopefully we will never need them again, however containing a fire to one area is a lot better than the alternative.
You are right in saying that the sprinkler can't save the whole house. It is designed to just go off in the one area that the fire has started in, therefore not requiring the same amount of water. We also will have a separate well for it as well.

[goodhors]

My neighboring fire company is puting on a demo by York County Animal Response Team. I will be attending. I am a FF/EMT but as far as I can remember we have not had a large animal incident. Anyway I am hoping to be able to join this team or at least gain much more knowledge to add to my brain. I will let you all know how it goes. Its not until the end of April.

Your clinician sounded like he knew what he was talking about. I am interested to see how many on this team actually have horses or livestock...

This sounds wonderful! Glad you get to attend. He made all our Responders bring their outfits, to do the work in full gear so they knew their limits, and showed US how hard it was to work snaps, ropes, with heavy gloves, thick coats. We farm owners needed to simplify things, so they could use them to get animals out.

His "Large Animal Rescue Kit" was not specialized equipment or the higher priced rigging seen on Animal Planet. He worked it up to the best basics, available locally, to put in a large plastic tub for the guys to grab as they headed out. Good halter in nylon, one in each size, mini to drafts. 4 pieces of the multipurpose braided rope. Two 20ft loop end, 3inch wide tow straps, 4000# capacity. No single horse weighs close to that limit. One 4inch wide, 20ft tow strap, with loop ends, 10000# capacity. Couple 12ft x 14ft plastic tarps, couple light canvas type tarps the same sizes. Large coil of light poly rope, boat anchor stuff, maybe 40ft, can be used in one piece, cut up if needed. Couple big bath towels cut in half. Make good blindfolds, padding if needed. Two rolls of cotton for wound covering. Big roll of duct tape, couple lead ropes. Gloves, leather and package of medical gloves. Safety vest, roll of caution tape to keep folks back from the scene. Couple of Pike poles or boat hook poles for working straps long distance, out of the danger zone of hooves. Boat hook poles are lighter, have not got the sharp ends of Pike Poles, but boat hooks will hold and move the strap loops where you need them. Good for us barn owners to have, if we wanted to make up a kit. He figured he could do almost any kind of the rescues he showed us with these tools.

Money saving is always a factor, so making a kit of easily available items is a huge savings. Amazing how versatile the items can be in a number of situations. You can pull the horse forward or backward, with the tow straps not hurting animal when applied correctly. You can't wait around for the crane or specialized equipment in many cases. The Clinician alone, pulled a 1500# horse forward, just using a single tow strap. Horse was not stuck, but not trained to do this either. Horse was a bit surprised, but cooperated with the pulling feel. Clinician said if animal is not exhausted, they will help the Responders, when feeling a pull forward with the strap.

That was something else, Response folks were NEVER to try pulling an equine by their head. Usually kills the equine by breaking their necks. Make sure your trainers mention that at LEAST once in rescue information! Strap has to go around the body, both loop ends out for Responders to pull with.

Holding the horse down on his side, with pinning the neck down, is not going to hurt horse. Both the Vets who attended ASSURED the Responders that spine was deep in the neck muscles, so kneeling on necks would not hurt horse, to everyone's great relief. The Responders were told to really hold that head and neck down, might take two people with some weight, to keep horse prone. I am sure your Trainers at the Practice will cover that with all of you Responders.

Hope you get the local Response Team set up and get on it.