APRIL 2019 THE RIDER /45 A First Persons Report Of a Barn Fire: First Line Training Centre


By Kristyn Salt On the morning of De-


cember 21st, around 1:20 am, a fire broke out at First Line Training Center lo- cated north of Milton, on the corner of Arkell Road and First Line Nassagawaya. Barn 7 housed one minia- ture pony and thirty-seven Standardbred racehorses, all trained under Mark Steacy’s Stable. Two of these horses perished in the blaze, and three had to be euthanized due to injuries sustained. It was Halton and Milton fire- fighters who were called to the scene, along with Halton Paramedics and Halton Re- gional Police, in total roughly 11 firetrucks were present and 50 staff to com- bat the fire. The situation was incredibly horrific, given the high number of lives at stake, however, it could’ve been much more tragic if the horse handlers and farm workers weren’t present and so quick to take action. A loud bang is what


woke Hugh Fitzpatrick that morning and prompted him to look into from where it had come. Upon seeing the severity of the fire he rushed to wake Joe Stutzman, owner of the training center, by loudly banging on his front door which also awoke Ruth, Joes wife. This also awakened Steve and Re- becca Titus who live in an apartment adjacent to the main house. These five indi- viduals were the first to fully comprehend the situa- tion.


Rebecca Titus recalls


that morning as being quiet and rainy, as she quickly walked towards the barns. She couldn’t smell anything odd or hear anything un- usual, until she got close enough to Barn 7. “You see that glow and realize that’s not good,” then she saw the fire. “Your thoughts stop.” On impulse she headed right to the doors that were slightly ajar and tried to turn on the lights. The fire had triggered the electricity sup- ply to short-circuit which she realized when the lights didn’t come on. Joe Stutzman, who lost


horses in the 1992 barn fire at Mohawk racetrack, en- sured that no one went into the barn or opened any of the doors to keep the oxygen levels unchanged and the fire less engulfing and also to keep them safe until fire officials arrived. In the ago- nizing 20 minutes it took firetrucks to get to the prop- erty everyone went through the terrible feelings of de- spair and shock. “It was a sense of


panic and helplessness be- cause nothing could be done,” Rebecca recalls. The horses weren’t screaming. However, they could hear them, kicking and throwing themselves against their stall walls trying to escape from the smoke. When the


flames fully engulfed the attic Rebecca hit panic. She began to believe that there was no hope for the horses inside.


A few of the stables


grooms were called, Scotty Lecain, Trevor Forgie and Shawn Steacy and they ar- rived at the same time as the fire crew. Milton Fire Chief, Dave Pratt knew he had one fireman on his crew that “played with horses in his spare time”. He had past ex- perience with race horses, and even worked at First Line Training Center at one point. Immediately he began removing horses from the barn while the rest of the staff gained control over the fire. A second fireman, with no horse experience, took initiative and began helping to remove horses once they had the fire under control. Like most equine fa-


cilities the horses were being stabled without their halters on to ensure safety of the horses. For someone with minimal horse experi- ence, trying to catch and correctly halter a horse quickly in the dark is a dif- ficult task. However, the horses were extremely calm once the handlers got a hold of them. None of them showing great panic as if knowing they were being helped. Horses were being led out of the smoke-filled barn with halters on upside down, some only looped around their ears, and lead ropes thrown around their necks. “Once the fire crew


got there and we got moving I didn’t stop to think, I just kept getting the horses and kept moving,” Rebecca re- members about the evening. The horses were being moved to any empty stalls available on the property, in total there were 12 unoccu- pied. When all the stalls were filled, the horses went into wash stalls, and in cross ties in barn isles. Any place to keep them safe and to have an awareness of a herd with other horses to ensure they were as comfortable as possible in this situation. Rebecca was impressed at how calm all the horses were when they were in the other barns around horses they didn’t know. “Amaz- ing” was how she described it.


Getting the horses out


of their stalls quickly didn’t come without complica- tions; feed tubs were hung in the stalls in a way that blocked the gates from opening, which open in- ward. This is a common way of hanging buckets as it’s efficient to be able to put the tubs in the stalls without having to open the gates. Plus, in the event that a horse gets the latch unfas- tened, the gate cannot open fully for them to escape. However, this posed an issue when the horses needed to get out fast. On


racing. The loud bang that


woke Hugh that tragic morning came from tires popping on the front-end loader that was parked be- side the barn. An electrical shortage in the block heater used for the loader was the cause of the fire. Security camera footage in another barn shows horses reacting to a noise at exactly 1:21am. This would have been the tires popping on the tractor. Rebecca remembers seeing the time as she walked out the door being 1:31am. It took exactly 10 minutes for Hugh to get everyone awake and for them to get out to the scene. “Time does fix things


top of that, the clasps were twisted from the horses pan- icked spinning and bumping them, making it challenging for the firemen to get to the horses. Scotty Lecain took the role of quickly going through the barn and remov- ing the feed buckets, for swift access to horses and prompt removal from the barn.


Only two of the horses


resisted leaving their stalls. Rebecca went into the barn to help catch one that was moving too fast for the fire- men to get a hold of and an- other horse Scotty helped to get out that a fireman was struggling to get to move. Finally, all the horses but the two who had perished got out and the treatments began. “Everyone stayed


calm and that really helped to get everything moving as good and efficiently as it did,” is how Rebecca de- scribes the scene. Before veterinarians arrived, the paramedics and trainers were treating the wounded horses with what they had available. Everyone was working together to aid to the horses and in some cases the grooms were placing jugular catheters so para- medics were able to run fluid bags with morphine into the severely injured. For three of these horses the extent of their injuries were far too severe. So, at the vet- erinarian’s discretion and consent of the trainer, it was decided to euthanize them rather than allow them to suffer unnecessarily. The rest of the 32


horses were brought to Mo- hawk racetrack, as it was the only place that had room for all the horses to go. Two truck and trailers were ini- tially used to make the trips with loads of four horses on each. Later, a shipper ar- rived at the training center around 5am to deliver a horse. Blaine McKenna had come from PEI on a 24-hour trip. When he realized ex- actly what was going on he immediately acted and


started helping by shipping horses where they needed to go.


Early the morning of


the 21st, three horses were brought to Guelphs OVC large animal hospital and two went the following day. In total, nine of the victim horses had to be treated at the hospital. In the 24 hours following the fire horses that were moved to Mo- hawk had most of the soot


cleared from their lungs which was observed by vet- erinary endoscopic proce- dures. Currently there is now only one remaining at OVC in critical condition and two have been retired to broodmares. The rest are in varying stages of recovery, but steadily getting better. Most of the horses have begun training again with clear bills of health, and some have even started back


and you try to remember the positive. We lost a couple but we also saved 32,” Re- becca, along with everyone affected from this, looks at the positive side knowing the outcome could have been far more devastating. The five horses that


were lost were three-year- old Pearl Bluechip and two- year-old Mademoiselle Tammy, these two fillies passed in the fire. The three that were euthanized were the two-year-old gelding Rap Royalty, and two home- bred yearling fillies, Miss


Wheely and Irma. The loss is deeply felt by the people who worked closely with these horses and by those who were impacted by the loss.


It is important to have


a fire safety plan ready for any farm/building. Some life-saving advice from the heroes at First Line Training Center: Don’t Disturb the fire, keep the doors closed as oxygen quickly intensi- fies the flames. Have extra halters and lead ropes stored in areas other than the barn. Remember that the horses may run back into the barn, because it’s where they feel safe. Make sure they are se- cure when removed from the building. Have your local fire department out to do an assessment of your barn and give you helpful information on what can be improved for safety. A GoFundMe account


has been made for donations towards Steacy Stable fire relief. Go


to


https://www.gofundme.com /mark-steacy-stable-barn- fire. Every donation is ap- preciated and incredibly helpful in regaining back what was lost in the blaze.


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