Fire Safety in your Chicken Coop & Barn - IMPORTANT!

I to am sorry for your loss and just wanted to add a few items regarding fire safety. I was a volunteer firefighter for a number of years and these are a few things I can recall from that side as well as this one. Remember a large number of fire departments are volunteer especially in rural areas. That means they are in bed just like you and when the pager goes off the must go to the station, get the truck and then get from the station to you. So don't count on the fire department to save your barn. Even a full time department down the street would have problems saving a barn once its burning. So the reality of it is you need to do everything possible to keep it from catching fire in the first place.

Next a lot of farm lanes/driveways are made for things other than firetrucks to navigate. Get with your local fire department to make sure they are able to get fire apparatus from the road to your barn do not assume without verifying it.

A water supply is crucial if you don't live in an area with a hydrant. If you have a farm pond, ask your fire department or local municipality about putting a dry hydrant on it the fire department can access in emergencies if its close to the road, or something you can do for your own property. Again they have to be able to access it with a heavy truck. Yes they carry water but its not enough for a barn fire.

The best prevention is getting heat alarms and smoke detectors installed in crucial areas preferably wired to your house. Again ask your local fire department for advice on specifically what to get and where to put it. They are firefighters because they like helping people. Most of this stuff is free except the equipment. Most fire departments like when people are proactive in fire prevention and are more than willing to do these things. They may even enjoy seeing your farm and meeting your animals! For the little it will cost you to install the heat and smoke alarms, I assure you they are worth their weight in gold if you value your livestock.

I can add one thing about access to your property. We live in a rural area and we can't see the nearest house. My neighbor had put up a locked gate, he even locked it when he was home. We had no crime in the area but I guess he felt safe like this. One day he had a stroke and called 911. When they got there they could not get in. The extra time it took to find a way around and get him out to the ambulance almost cost him his life. We did loose a town hermit who had used a bulldozer to block him in, same thing but because of this he died while they were getting to him. The point of all this is to make sure emergency responders can get to you
 
Aoxa

We had an electrical fire this morning. I have three coops and each has a floating pond water heater in a rubber tub for drinking water. Two of them are outside but one is inside because it is a raised Turkey coop that I have no good way to get into the raised run, that's going to change this spring.Going out to check for eggs and making sure food was ok for the day I had a surprise waiting for me. I saw the cord going to the inside coop sparking and smoldering. I unplugged everything quickly. Thank God the fire was outside of the coop. Now without any doubt I will be putting in underground power to all three coops with GFI outlets. Lesson learned about using old extension cords.
 
Aoxa

We had an electrical fire this morning. I have three coops and each has a floating pond water heater in a rubber tub for drinking water. Two of them are outside but one is inside because it is a raised Turkey coop that I have no good way to get into the raised run, that's going to change this spring.Going out to check for eggs and making sure food was ok for the day I had a surprise waiting for me. I saw the cord going to the inside coop sparking and smoldering. I unplugged everything quickly. Thank God the fire was outside of the coop. Now without any doubt I will be putting in underground power to all three coops with GFI outlets. Lesson learned about using old extension cords.
Very scary!! See we had a warning like this and switched it up but ultimately ignored it.. We did so many things wrong, and I am ashamed to admit them. Thank you for sharing your story, and I'm so glad nothing more serious happened.
 
I can add one thing about access to your property. We live in a rural area and we can't see the nearest house. My neighbor had put up a locked gate, he even locked it when he was home. We had no crime in the area but I guess he felt safe like this. One day he had a stroke and called 911. When they got there they could not get in. The extra time it took to find a way around and get him out to the ambulance almost cost him his life. We did loose a town hermit who had used a bulldozer to block him in, same thing but because of this he died while they were getting to him. The point of all this is to make sure emergency responders can get to you
We've been having a big blow come down during the snowstorms to clear way.. For us mostly, but in the back of my mind if something happened - they could drive down this time. They had to carry the hose down last time.. The road was not cleared :(
 
We were lucky. Even though we have a new cord I am still afraid of what could be. Stupid birds keep kicking hay back over the cord. We have a long narrow drive and I don't know if the big truck would make it but the smaller one would and we do have a pond near the house for them to pump water. Putting in electricity to all the coops is now a big priority come spring.
 
How terrible! I'm so sorry you experienced such a loss. I am grateful you chose to share all you have learned from it to hopefully help all of us avoid the same loss.
 
And and I recommend that Your Barns Should Have An FIRE EXTINGUISHER That there is a Glass Protected
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and we know it that serves you but not all of us that is a lesson and we will not do it again okay :)
 
My dads barn burnt down over 20 years ago. Got a power spike from stray voltage that blew up part of an air compressor, catching the room on fire, and quickly running up the wall and catching the hay mall on fire. Flames were over a hundred feet high in no time. It got so hot that it melted a steel hay elevator. Luckily we only lost one sick cow and a few calves, if it had happened at a different time of day and we would have lost over 100 milking cows. My grandfather had taken out the insurance, and it never got updated, so a policy that was probably sufficient in the 60's was way below adequate in the 90's and my dad and uncle ended up going almost a million in debt building back.
Fires are no joke, especially when your insurance isn't up to date. So my advice is check for fire hazards, and make sure your insurance is able to replace what you might lose.
 
Thanks for being brave enough to post this, I'm sorry you lost all your animals. I believe I'll be upgrading my coop with conduit. I already have cages around the light and am running a heavy extension cord but conduit is good. Please post pictures of your new barn, I have no doubt all of us will learn from the design.
 

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