By DOUG GRAVES

Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Last summer 5,000 pigs perished in a fire that completely destroyed a hog farm near Good Hope in Fayette County. In November, a three-alarm fire at Trillium Farms in western Licking County destroyed a pullet barn and killed 100,000 young hens in egg production.

That same month electrical wiring was blamed in the fire that killed 300 pigs in Champaign County. And eight months earlier a barn containing cattle, horses, straw and hay was destroyed by a fire in Pemberville in Wood County; only one horse survived the incident.

More than 150,000 farm animals perished in potentially preventable barn fires in the United States in 2018, an Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) data report reveals. Of the 148 barn fires tracked last year (nearly double the number documented in 2017), Wisconsin reported the most with 19. and Ohio and New York were next in line with 18 each.

There were 53 devastating fires at Ohio livestock or poultry storage facilities in 2018, according to the State Fire Marshal’s office. It was the highest tally in five years.

Last year’s property loss, at more than $1.7 million, was more than four times the loss from 2014. The loss of animals, valued at $1.17 million, was twice that from 2017 and triple the 2014 animal death toll.

Unlike human casualties, animals are treated as commodities in fire investigations. Neither the fire marshal nor the Ohio Department of Agriculture tallies the dead. And unlike residential fires, there is little being done to safeguard against future fires, experts in the field say.

In 2012, following several barn fires, the National Fire Protection Assoc. (NFPA) proposed that all new livestock enclosures have fire-suppressant systems. But farm lobbyists, including those from the pork and poultry industries, helped defeat it.

“When caught in a fire, animals don’t understand why they can’t breathe or why they are in such agony,” said Joe Scibetta, NFPA technical committee member. “They do, however, perceive and are conscious of the terrible sensations of burning, suffocation and pain.

“When we confine animals to suit human purposes, we have an obligation to secure fire protection for them.”

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) said imposing new regulations is a challenge.

“The prevailing theme in farm culture is ‘let the farmers make their own decisions and don’t burden them with too many regulations’,” said Joe Cornely, OFBF spokesman. “That same sentiment is going to be prevalent across any sector of business. It’s not unique to agriculture.”

Lisa Pfeifer, educational program manager for agriculture, safety and health at The Ohio State University’s agricultural engineering department, said OSU officials encourage farmers to work with firefighters.

“We always advise that you call up your local fire department and have the come out to visit,” she explained. “In the event of an emergency, it will expedite the services they can provide.”

In battling that fire in Fayette County last summer, proximity to retention ponds or other water sources would have helped. As it turned out, dozens of tanker trucks from 13 fire departments made the 12-mile round trip to haul more than a quarter-million gallons to control the hours-long fire.

All totaled, the OSU ag safety department says there are 20,000 agriculture related fires a year in the U.S. that cause $102 million in direct property loss. Their suggestion? Storing supplies correctly within the barn is key in the prevention of barn fires.

Hay and straw, sawdust and shredded newspaper, horse blankets, paint, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides are highly flammable items that need to be stored correctly and far removed from accelerants such as gasoline and kerosene.

Heat sources from cigarettes, matches, sparks from welding machines, motors, heaters, electrical appliances, fence chargers and batteries are key culprits.

According to AWI, the biggest contributor to barn fires is poor electrical work. Barns are often very old and therefore have electrical wiring that is also very old. The AWI suggests panel boxes be weather-proofed and located in the driest area possible.

And wiring throughout the barn should be encased in metal conduit in order to prevent damage. Above all, they say appliances in the barn should be UL (Underwriters Laboratories) listed and grounded.

“Given the massive scale of industrial farming and the potential for hundreds of thousands of animals to die in one fire, it is imperative that fire prevention and suppression become a priority in the animal agriculture industry,” said Alicia Prygoski, AWI’s farm animal policy associate.