Dozens of horses perish in Puslinch barn fire

Firefighters from five different departments were called to Jamie and Barb Miller’s Classy Lane Stables on Monday night (4 January) where they found one of five large barns ablaze (not pictured – stock image used).

Miller, who is visiting Florida and spoke to The Canadian Press by phone, said firefighters were still on the scene and that it was too early to speculate on the cause of the blaze.

Classy Lane opened in 2003, and can accommodate as many as 222 horses, according to the stable’s website. She could not confirm the actual number of horses killed in the incident, but she estimated that a total of 40 horses were present at the barn at the time of fire. The cause of the fire is being investigated by Puslinch Fire and Rescue Services and the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshall has been contacted.

“We don’t know yet what happened”, Millier said by telephone.

Wallace said he’d been at the stable at the time, and that the fire had engulfed one of the buildings so quickly that no one was able to get to the horses. Water lines kept freezing and, with no nearby hydrants, the water being trucked to the site wasn’t enough to save any of the horses stabled in barn No. 1.

“This is a multimillion-dollar fire, the highest dollar loss that we’ve experienced in our township”, said Goode in a news conference at the scene of the fire.

Members of the Puslinch community said the fire has devastated many trainers and owners in the area.

They moved from their Dorchester home to their Classy Lane farm a few years ago.

Ontario Harness Horse Association GM Brian Tropea noted a GoFundMe account is in the midst of being set up in support of those who lost horses in the fire. “This is a horse trainer’s nightmare”, adding that those who worked with the animals considered them family.

By Tuesday afternoon, several crowdsourcing campaigns had begun to help raise money for those impacted by the fire. It took four hours to extinguish the flames.