SWMBO's horse barn is now enclosed, electrical in, waiting for hor$e $tall$ to arrive. She asked me about what she should be doing about fire extinguisher(s).
I realize that if hay or bedding catch fire, there's likely nothing you can realistically do.
Barn is not that big-- only about 36 x 40. I'm thinking something like a couple of 5 lb ABCs and it seems likely a good size pressurized water/foam would be even more useful, except I couldn't protect them from freezing.
Any advice?
Unless you happened to be in the barn WHEN the fire started, there isn’t really anything you can do. Barns are huge tinderboxes and once ablaze they burn.
Fortunately they don’t burn often. I’m in horse country and barn fires are a rare occurrence that make the news.
Former horseman here, that's me in my avatar.
I'm many years past my racetrack career, but I still cringe at the thought of a barn fire. Jeremy is right that prevention is the best. I would make sure you always have a hose or two ready.
I don't know the relative statistics, but electrical shorts, lightning, and spontaneous combustion from wet hay are all common causes.
Outranking them all I believe, is human error, also known as stupidity. Smoking should never be allowed in a barn.
Also, I've seen people run electrical cords through or within reach of horse stalls.
While I never personally witnessed a fire from that, I've seen horses that chewed through power cords. Since they are wearing aluminum or steel shoes and standing on damp ground, they don't stand a chance.
Make sure that the building has good lightning protection, is sufficiently grounded, that you're sure about the wiring, and store your hay and bedding properly. And NO SMOKING!
Electrical was one of my inputs on the construction— it’s all in EMT as opposed to the Romex nail-ups I’ve seen far too many of around here.
Karacticus said:Electrical was one of my inputs on the construction— it’s all in EMT as opposed to the Romex nail-ups I’ve seen far too many of around here.
Most wise.
High quality properly installed asbestos? Dons flame retardant suit and runs away serpentine...
Sprinklers?
Something like 500 Spec Miata AFF systems ganged together? :)
Karacticus said:Electrical was one of my inputs on the construction— it’s all in EMT as opposed to the Romex nail-ups I’ve seen far too many of around here.
Very good. Did you pull ground wires through the EMT, or are you relying on the conduit for a ground? A barn seems like a particularly prone environment for a break in the EMT bond.
To your original question, 5 lb are too small. I'd put a 10 lb at every column and every exit/ entrance.
You not gonna stop a blaze once it gets going, but if you have a decent extinguisher within reach you might be able to stop something before it got out of control. Or at least knock it down long enough to unlock the barn doors to let the horses out.
Maybe look into something that would be safe for the animals to breath in small quantities? Humans tend to know (and can) cover their mouths for breathing in bad situations. Animals can't really do that.
If the barn isn't heated or would be prone to freezing temps, a sprinkler system would need to be a dry-type. Doable, but not a simple system. Part of my job is fire alarm system design and I've seen all sorts of systems over the past 22 years. But the requirements for commercial and industrial buildings are different and tend to be pricey - potentially as much as the value of the barn itself. Many of these decisions are driven by the insurers. Is the barn insured? Just the building or contents as well? What is the value of those contents? Would you get a discount on the insurance if some levels of fire protection and/or alarms are installed? Not to sound cold, but a barn housing million dollar race horses would be built to different requirements than for basic recreational horses.
In reply to Ian F :
Great post, and good example of this:
One of the greatest things about the Grassroots Motorsports forum is the huge variety of knowledge to be found in other subjects than cars.
This barn is just holding my wife's trail riding quarter horse and his pasture buddy-- the barn and contents are worth more than the horses. Just two stalls, a run in area, tack/feed room and storage. It's also built with drive-through overhead doors so she can get here trailer in out of the weather. We aren't going anywhere near a sprinkler system-- cost aside, the well pump we are on likely wouldn't support any meaningful volume.
Going to 10 pounders makes a lot of sense, and once the tack room is finished out, we should be able to stash a pressurized water/foam unit in there, as the intent is to keep that room above freezing.
I just try not to think about how this horse barn is costing about the same as a brand new, well optioned Cayman S...
I hired the electrical work done, because I just had shoulder surgery done and can let someone else work running wire/conduit through trusses 14 feet above a concrete floor on a ladder. They should have run grounds, but I'll open the panel and take a look to confirm.
Location...
The reason I suggested every column is the columns (and trusses) are easy to spot from anywhere.
That would be more extinguishers than you would "need". (Of course, you hope you never need them at all!)
I'd be less concerned about how many are "required", and more concerned about them being supremely easy to find quickly in a room full of smoke.
If there is ever a fire, it will spread fast. The difference between 3 steps to get to one and 20 steps could mean a horse's life.
Have your wife practice with the extinguishers. It can really surprise some people how heavy a full extinguisher is. We were required to put 20lb extinguishers in some locations at our building, and we put 5lb ones next to them because we just didn't think some of the petite people in the building would be able to lift that monster. It's not 20lb full, it's closer to 40 with the bottle and all. Disclaimer on that - I haven't weighed them, but I know it's a heft for me to pick one up and swing it around one handed, and I am not a 100lb 5.0" woman.
They do sell glow in the dark "Fire Extinguisher" signs to make it easier to spot them. I think that might be overkill but you could consider it. https://www.amazon.com/Headline-Sign-4793-Glow-Extinguisher/dp/B0010T3MM8
I would definitely go glow in the dark labels. Couldn't hurt
"Required" can be somewhat vague when dealing with non-commercial buildings and especially one that may not get a Certificate of Occupancy. And yes, any sort of sprinkler system would likely be a giant PITA and prohibitively expensive. My work (electrical) is more towards fire "detection" (smoke alarms and various related devices) and less towards fire "protection" which is part of our plumbing group. What is required varies a lot depending on the size of the building, occupancy and the "use group" (use and contents).
But as I mentioned, I've had projects where a client's insurance company has requirements above and beyond Code requirements.
Regardless, I generally agree with SVreX - a bunch of fire extinguishers in readily accessible locations sounds like your best compromise.
In reply to Karacticus :
I'm sorry you are so far away. I've got a dozen or more 10 lb extinguishers I would give you for the cost of shipping....
You'll need to log in to post.
