38 Horses Die as Blaze Sweeps Through Barns at Ohio Harness Track

Fire swept through horse barns at the Lebanon Raceway harness track on the Warren County fairgrounds early today, killing about 38 horses, a fire official said.

Lt. Keith Dickson of the Lebanon Fire Department said authorities were still at the site late this morning trying to determine exactly how many horses died. But he said they found the remains of about 38 horses.

“That’s still a rough estimate,” he said. “We’re still going through it.”

Track spokesman Jerry Nardiello said the fire was the worst since the track started operating in 1948.

The Fire Department said two barns were destroyed and a third was heavily damaged in the blaze that broke out about midnight.

More than 100 firefighters from 11 companies in the southwest Ohio county were summoned by the four-alarm fire.

Lebanon Fire Department spokesman Mark Carroll said two firefighters taken to Bethesda Hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion were later released.

Carroll said the fire apparently started in one barn west of the grandstand and spread rapidly because the buildings were close together.

He said firefighters also were hampered by low water pressure in the fairgrounds system and had to tap into a Lebanon city hydrant half a mile away.

The cause of the fire was not known. No damage estimate was available.

Nardiello said the fire would not affect racing scheduled for tonight.