NEWS
Investigation pending in Fab Oak barn fire
Posted: Saturday, April 19, 2008 9:12 PM
by Jenny Blandford
Eleven horses were killed in a barn fire at Fabien Ouaki’s 130-acre Fab Oak Stable in Versailles, Kentucky on Saturday morning.
The fire, which began around 2:41 a.m. EDT on April 19 on Paynes Mill Road, was reported by a driver on US-60 and four minutes later a neighbor called to pinpoint the location of the fire, Woodford County Fire Chief Bennie Green said.
Green said the cause of the fire is unknown and an investigation is pending until the fire cools down. Due to the large amount of metal, the site was still hot on Monday.
“Underneath the tin, it’s not flaming but it still has smoke coming out and it’s awfully hot under there,” Green said. “The next day [on Sunday] we went out and put three loads of water on it to keep it cool and right now, there’s still a little bit of fire under there.
“Nobody has any idea of what happened right now.”
Once the fire department reached the site, the building was engulfed. Two adjoining buildings were saved on each end of the building.
“We couldn’t extinguish it. The building had already fallen in once we got there. …All we could do was keep it cool,” Green said.
A farm representative could not confirm details about any of the horses that died but said a statement would be released soon by Ouaki.
Jenny Blandford is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor
