Yesterday I solved the problem of the West Barn cows water by dragging the emergency water barrel, which was half filled with frozen water all the way round and through the open gate, then into the barn and into their inside barn area so I could run a cable and drop a water heater into it and fill it up with buckets from the other side. (You see their normal watering hole is frozen solid for the winter and their usual winter watering space has been taken over by pigs. ) This was quite a haul and a number of times I had to sit on the side of the heavy water barrel and think about my life, as the snow fell on my face and the wind howled about my head, I had to give myself a good talking to about not being such a baby and this being one of those times I had to pull up my knickers and lift like a girl. Which I did. With the cows and the pigs through the fence and the dogs dancing to and fro – all lending moral support.
I looked at Carlos the IV and wondered about yoking him into a harness and letting him do the pulling. Dexters are supposed to make go0d oxen. But the fastest way to do anything is to put your back into it, do it yourself and Get It Done.
While I dragged this tub half filled with frozen water across the concrete pad I thought about fire.
I manage two old barns. Both of these barns have electricity, but no water. The water is carried in and then heated so it does not freeze solid. So for both of these barns I run long extension cords around the pens (so the pigs cannot chew on them) to the water barrels or heated dog bowls. Not all of these cords are new, not any of the barn wiring is new, fire is not new.
Every year I hear horror stories of heating lamps burning down chicken coops and all the birds, farrowing houses and all the pigs and piglets. A neighbour of mine burnt his whole barn full of pregnant sheep, this was caused by a heating lamp on the first lambs. A Dairy recently burnt killing too many cows. This is awful. It terrifies me. All these animals were locked into their pens.
So, I have two rules. One. If using a heating lamp it is on two chains, firmly attached and in a cage. So if one chain fails, the other catches it. If both fail and it falls the cage keeps it above the straw. I only use heating lamps in the first few days of an animals life if it is cold. And I check them obsessively. And always saying what if – what if. The chickens do not have heat lamps – not even in this cold.
My second rule – Every set of animals has an escape hatch. I have designed every pen so there is always a door open to the outside. Animals and birds do not lie in bed and think “Is that a fire I smell, honey, is that smoke?” Animals get the tiniest whiff of smoke and bolt for the open. In full flight. So I give them all a place to run. Though their beds are out of direct wind, this means that they will be cold. But the animals I live with are ok in cold, I raise no hot house flowers. We call is healthy ventilation. So, their doors stand open all winter except in a severe storm. I have a horror of fire. And a horror of animals and birds in full terror having no-where to run. I would hear their screams forever.
These barns are old, tinder dry and with all the water heating cords running through them and old wiring, I cannot ever be sure that there will never be a fire but I can give the animals a way out. To save themselves.
While I was writing this another farmer and member of The Fellowship was writing about the same thing. She makes some good points.
Good morning. The fear of fire is deep within us and the harnessing of it with respect for its power to destroy. The knowledge of it is a good thing. We do not play with fire here.
Much love,
celi
ps. Today I am going shopping. So I may not be back before dark then I will have to do chores in the dark. So maybe there will be no blog page tomorrow. Maybe.
The Kitchen's Garden 
78 responses to “Fear of Fire”
Oef! Wjhen you began I was thinking that fire was likely the least of your worries. After all, said I to self, the barns are really old and nothing has happened to them up to date, so why worry now? But then, the more you rattled on about possible scenarios I started to get worried about all the wiring lying around and other risks. By the time you were done telling, I was done dreaming of running a small farm too! Oh do try to think of Jenny, above, who has run wires behind walls, in pvc piping. That does sound like the safest.
I hope all the efforts you had to go through, getting the emergency water barrel into the barn, has proved successful. Never a dull moment, hmm? — Hope you have a fun shopping day! ~ Mame 🙂
The pvc pipe us so her animals do not chew the wires. Very sensible. I have no wires where they can be chewed or stepped on.
Such sensibl planning. Fire terrifies me too and the thought of “what if” is horrific. Better to be safe than sorry.
Yes. Sorry is s long long time.
This is such an important post. Even in our homes, every winter we hear of simple careless acts that burn down homes. Since moving here, I have learned to greatly respect fire. My worst catastrophe was thinking our burn pile was far enough away and out of sight that it wouldn’t bother our orphaned fawn, Daisy deer. Even the wind should have swept the smoke away from her pen area. In less than a minute of lighting the fire, down in a pit along the canyon drop off, I noticed Daisy wracking herself against the fence in order to flee! I quickly put the fire out with a hose (I always put a hose to the burn pit just in case) and went to her after snuffing the flames. Face bloodied, eyes and nose horribly swollen, along with cuts and abrasions on her legs and body, it took me forever to calm her down. Thankfully, months later, her wounds healed, but I never forgot the lesson. Sensory perception in any animal is keen, and the flight instinct is strong. You are wise to give your animals an escape hatch. There can never be too many precautions in place.
Oh no. Poor daisy. It only takes a whiff. Lucky you were able to
Put it out so fast
Great rules. And the set up for the heating lamps is genius, hopefully people with read this and try it themselves.
Those heating lamps are terribly dangerous. What I want is a heated rock . Maybe the lamp inside it. Then the animals can cuddle next to the warm rock . Much safer . I will try and design one myself.
Oh that’s a great idea. You would think they would develop safety heat lamps or space heaters so you don’t have that risk.
Having a fear of fire is healthy. We had a wildfire go through our little town September 2014. Within a few hours 130 homes, our sweet Library, Community Center, Senior Nutrition Kitchen and two churches burned to the ground. It was horrific. Our little town will take years to totally recover.
Oh no. You poor thing. That is just awful .
We fear fire here also. It’s very scary. On a side bar note…we’ve had two different neighbors just about burn up our farm…fire is terrifying!
Linda
Yes! I remember . Terrible
Wheew, that are horror stories you’re thinking of and telling about. Terrifing me alread alone by reading. I wish and hope you never ever will be confronted in reality with things like that. So sorry for your neighbours and their animals….
Hope you had a nice and successful shopping day.
On my way home now. A good day had by all but a long trek to get home.
Btw do you have smoke detectors in your barns? Would they help to discover the source in case of emergency?
Yes but if I have smoke it is all over.. barns are full of tinder dry beams and straw and hay. c
Not a pleasant thing to think about but very important. We’re stuck with space heaters this winter (and lots of blankets). Made sure all the cords were intact and large enough for the load, heavier than necessary is better than too light and melted cords or plugs. GFCI outlets or heavy duty power strips or both. Tip shut offs on the heaters, absolutely nothing flammable around the heaters, keeping the floors swept of dust and dog hair and fire extinguishers easily to hand. A friend had a fire in her garage using a space heater that got a floating wad of dog hair caught in it that started burning, fortunately no real damage, as her husband was working out there and saw the sparks, flipped the power strip off and used the fire extinguisher. Make sure you extension cords are heavy enough gauge to handle the load, it’s important.
Yes! Good point. All are up to par but one. The last one I ran is pretty old though and ready to be replaced . The long ones are expensive .
Oh C. thoughts of fires terrifies me. Especially in an old barn housing animals and birds. You hear those horror stories and just shudder. I’m so glad you have provided an escape route for all your animals. If people would just think of that on their farms. Maybe you could publish an article to that effect in a publication such as Mother Earth News or Grit magazine.
Can’t wait to hear about your trip to the city! Wasn’t it lovely to take a little side trip off the farm for a nice visit and some nice wine? 🙂
Yes I had a lovely time – home and hosed now!.. c
Better to think about such things beforehand… for our old timber house as well. We’ve just updated our smoke alarms & upped the number to 3. And I’ve curbed my candle habit… if I burn perfumed candles or incense it is always in sturdy holders and within sight but for gentle light I’ve replaced them with rechargeable electric & solar candles.
Yes I need to check all our fire alarms too.. thank you for the reminder.. c
As I have said before, I’m a citygirl. As a matter of fact, I once lived right across the street from a fire department and grew inured to the sirens. I’d hear them in my sleep, think “Fire trucks”, turn over and continue sleeping. Now, after having read this harrowing account of what Can happen, I’m a fraidy-pants. This is good. Need to snuff out citygirl’s complacency. You teach me so much and I am discovering that I just love learning about all that you say. Take your vitamins, girlfriend. I want you around for a long, long time. Much love, Gayle…and much love to the Fellowship as well!
Take your vitamins too Gayle!! c
With this current windfall of cash I have bought ahead!
Hi C….my father was an electrical engineer and we were raised to fear fire…..we had fire drills at our home and unplugged cords when not in use. (sigh) The washer and dryer were never running if we were leaving the house…….
The irony was my brother, later in life, experienced two really bad fires. A spark from a car, that was started in the barn, burned the barn down and all the sheep that were outside ran into the barn and died……which made no sense. Only fire fighters are supposed to run into burning structures !!? Several years later his house burned to the ground……embers from a wood burning furnace……so yes..fire is something to plan against as best we can……I hope you had a great shopping trip !!
We never go put if any of our appliances are running. Once we noticed smoke coming from our dishwasher, which was running. Something had dropped out of the racks onto the bottom of the dishwasher, and was about to catch fire. If we hadn’t been home I hate to think what might have happened. You can never be too careful about fire!
barbie your poor brother and you are right – we can be as careful as we can but sometimes bad luck will hit up and as for those sheep! awful. If i stayed in the house every time i had the washing machine going I would be in all the time, I work outside so I am afraid I push play and leave. Sometimes we just have to hope for the best.
I agree !
In spite of it being mid-summer in Australia we seem to have the story and film of some private city house burning down almost every day – and do the fires move fast: oft just ten minutes to lose a home and all in it! Rather unexpectedly Christmas ‘toys’ which need recharging seem to have been the main culprits lately . . . . el cheapo from north of us . . . . unexpected explosion and no time to react!! But yours has to be done and I fully understand you having an eye open and an ear in hearing mode thru’ the night . . . do hope you managed all you had planned on your ‘expedition’ north !!
Had a wonderful lunch but did not find what i was looking for – I will have to resort to internet shopping which is so impersonal.. c
Actually do not agree! Because of circumstances have now bought ‘on-line’ for a number of years awfully successfully . . . and darling Miss C – one can actually ‘make friends’ in online department stores most successfully – the operators there also feel the need for personal contact and I mostly deal with ‘actual people’ who do send me what they feel great bargains and pertaining to my interests 😀 !! And it IS such fun buying at 11pm with a mug of green tea on the side 🙂 !
We use heat lamps on most of our enclosures. We have clamps and chains, as well. It’s always good to have backup. We even have a fire evacuation plan for the animals.
Yes – I like the chains – they are nailed to the beams above and are not going to fall.. c
Not to frighten you needlessly but please check or have checked your outside electrical box. Our house is 130 years old and I believe the outbuildings are older. The electrical supply box by the meter was one commonly used on farms. When we replaced our old garage the electrician changed it to a proper circuit box as he said he had seen some of them get so hot they glowed! Scared the bejesus out of me for sure. It was something about how it was made and what it was made of. Apparently it was fine for the electrical loads at the time but couldn’t handle the increased modern ones. All of our animals save the chickens have run in living quarters, they are never closed in. The chickens have a heat lamp and the hanging bracket is screwed tight to the beam. Rather a chilly critter than a cooked one!
Our outside and inside box were remade when we added on so hopefully that will not be an issue but i will check with john – best to be careful – thank you sherry..