Thirteen horses have died in a stable fire in Ontario – the second barn tragedy in the Canadian province in less than a fortnight. The latest blaze, on Thursday night, occurred on a private farm on Highway 89 near Mount Forest, northwest of Guelph, in the southern part of the province. It follows the deaths of 43 standardbreds in a stable blaze at a harness-racing establishment in Puslinch on January 4. A local media report on the latest fire reported that the horses were Arabian. It is understood only one horse managed to escape the blaze, which erupted around 10am. Firefighters – more than 50 attended the fire at its height – had initially tried to enter the barn to save the horses, but the situation was assessed as too risky. Fire crews managed to stop the wind-fanned fire from spreading to nearby buildings. A person from the farm was taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
