E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSSeven thoroughbred horses were killed Saturday when a fire roared through a barn at the Gulfstream Polo Club in Florida, a fire official said.
The barn was fully involved with flames when firefighters arrived shortly after noon, Capt. Albert Borroto of Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said in a statement. Seven thoroughbreds were killed and four were being treated for burns.
Fire Rescue Capt. Michael Bergeron told NBC 6 in Miami that the barn was 70 to 80 feet long.
“Not one inch of the barn was not totally engulfed in flames when I got there. The flames were 10 feet above the roof,” the polo club’s president, Randy Aversano, told The Palm Beach Post.
Investigators concluded that the fire was caused by an electrical fault in a tack room used as a kitchen, Borroto said.
No other structures were involved.
The club is in Lake Worth, south of Palm Beach.
Leave a Comment:
tragic...
These horses will be missed. I hope the smoke from these horses burning has risen to reach the GODs.
Luckily, we Pigs have our brick house...funded by taxpayers
Same old story - alcohol and horseplay.
Don't give me that look, it was a f*ckin horse.
$100 grand a piece, my kids in the f*ckin hospital!
Insurance fraud? In the movies (and I guess the Sopranos), it's always insurance fraud when the horses die in a fire.
flatiron, WTF are you talking about ? you are talking in riddles.
Sopranos reference...
And what's a barn if it doesn't have a kitchen?!? :-/
I wondered about this, as well.
Horrible for these poor horses. Had to have been terrifying. Terrible.
Capt Tripps, will insurance cover this if it's found that there was no mention of a "kitchen" in this tack room when the policy was written???
What are you a vegetarian?? You eat beef and sausage by the car load!
Probably a hot plate near a bale of hay.
These horses can't horse around any more. They will be missed
How many childish comments can a pig make?
The horse whisperers have lost their jobs.
Go stuff it Pigotry! Do you not believe in Karma for yourself? Good luck Pigotry because you are going to need in your life. Now for the horses lost, this is a tragedy because they were animals. They may not have been humans, but pets are still living breathing creatures that provide us humans at our worst times with nothing but comfort and trust as owners.
I have always wondered why people don't put water sprinklers in their barns...Well, I hope they didn't suffer, poor horses..
Hell yes they suffered!!!!!! They were engulfed in flames. I cannot imagine a worse way to die. Slowly.
Did they die of the flames or did they die of smoke inhalation and then consumed by the flames. I don't remember the article specifying. Often animals and humans initially die of smoke inhalation first.
Smoke, mostly. Poor things.
WHY do people not unplug all their stuff before going home? Its like smoking in a barn.
Tiger Lady,
I was wondering the same thing myself. I live in a condo and one of my neighbors started a fire by smoking in bed and the firemen said the thing that saved the building were the sprinklers. So I had no damage at all.
Especially a barn housing $20k horses. Most facilities house much cheaper animals and it's not cost-effective to install sprinklers in the barn (hell, most houses don't have them), but if you can afford these highly trained thoroughbreds, you ought to consider sprinklers.
Gee, what a surprise. Sounds alot like a Sopranos episode. Da deee dum dumm........
It started in a kitchen in the barn. Do these horses get hot meals everyday? Poor planning and very sad to hear these horses were killed especially by fire.........
thoroughbred horses
Thoroughly breed is my kind of action..
I can't help thinking there could be a way to evaquate these horses quickly. I have solved many problems greater than this. I wish I could be involved in helping design barns that would allow for rapid evacuation of horses in these situations.
Probably wasn't a person on duty (or were neglecting their duty) for these horses to have been killed like this. I would suspect had a human been on duty the stalls could be opened and the horses escape. I mean, wasn't there at least a fire alarm(s) in the barn. You'd think with animals as valuable as polo ponies, there would be local alarms as well as an ADT-type fire alarm connected to a call center.
Stupid humans. Either it was ignorance or insurance fraud. Poor horses; they are beautiful animals; so kind despite their capability of killing a human in a second.
Sprinkler System! You're a polo club sponsored by Gulfstream and you can't afford a damn sprinkler system? Really?! And who puts a kitchen connected to a stable? Fire and hay/straw don't to well together... a fact most humans have known for thousands of years. I don't take pleasure in others' pain, but I wouldn't lose any sleep if the same fate befell any of those people responsible for this.
Some idiots had been using a tack room for a kitchen. Plugging microwaves, coffee pots, etc. into an outlet.
These animals were probably smoked perfectly in the fire. How is this news? Invite the neighbors, enjoy.
How horribly sad for those precious, beautiful horses.
Nothing precious about them (market for horse is down) although they do look beautiful and no living creature deserve a death by fire. What is sad is this is national news? What next "turtle run over by vehicle in arizona"? Maybe "family pet stalked and eaten by wolf outside national park"? The economy is on the verge of collapse, more people are without work than in the Great Depression with the only means of recovery ceded to foreign countries in the name of redistribution of wealth and polo horses is news? Let them eat cake I guess.
You, sir, are an idiot.
Being stabled myself at Gulfstream Polo Club and personally knowing the people whose poor horses were lost that day I can honestly say shame on you guys!!!! Everyone pointing fingers saying it was done for insurance! Those horses were those guys lives and they are beyond consolation. It was a horrible tragedy and an unfortunate accident and we all feel for them!