Barn Fires Can Be Prevented
by H. D. Bruhn and R. G. Koegel
Farm Safety Review
It is rather shocking to learn
that one farm out of each 125
may be the scene of a serious
barn fire within the next year.
Yet that is what Wisconsin
records indicate will probably
happen.
An analysis of the State Fire
Marshall’s records shows that
1,864 barns were damaged by
fire during the 1966-67 two-year
period. Damage totalled 9.2 mil
lion dollars.
The Wisconsin Statistical re
porting service listed 118,000
faims in 1967, and with the con
tinually decreasing number of
farms, this loss by fire willaver-
BABCOCK HATCHERY, INC.
BOX 285, LITITZ, PA.
Where in the World is Babcock? • • • Wherever eggs are produced at a profit!
age out to about one fire per
year for each 125 farms.
The appalling 9 2 million dol
lar damage caused by barn fires
over the two year period repre
sents only a portion of the total
loss. A fire may wipe out the
better part of a year’s stored
feed supply, and the purchase
of the equivalent of a barn-full
of good hay may be much more
expensive than the value placed
on hay initially in the barn
Many barn fires have wiped out
a lifetime of work in breeding
up a high producing dairy herd,
one which may be impossible to
replace. Rebuilding a barn on
short notice is not only expen
sive but can throw a whole farm
operation into chaos during a
ABCOCK POULTRY
According to results published in
the U. S. D. A. 2-year combined
summary of Random Sample Egg
Production Tests, 1966-67 and
1967 - 68, Babcock Beat All Com-
planting or harvesting season,
therefore, the actual loss, even
if partially covered by insur
ance, may be far in excess of
the reported damage.
An analysis of barn fire
damage divided into categories
will serve to better the direction
of preventive efforts
The pie-shaped chart indicates
that the largest category repre
sents fires of unknown origin.
More than 31 per cent of the
total loss results from these
fires The causes of these fires
cannot be determined for the
barns frequently are totally de
stroyed. This is substantiated by
the fact that the average damage
resulting from this group is in
excess of $9,000 per fire. How-
WE
tfON
FARM, INC.
Ithaca,
New York
letition In Income Over Feed and
Chick Costs.
PH. 626-8561
Lancaster Farming. Saturday. February 22.1969
SECOND SECTION
ever, if the fires resulting from
known causes are reduced, there
is a good possibility that the
fires resulting from unknown
causes will also be i educed If
barn fires are to be reduced, the
three categories of spantaneous
ignition lighting, and defective
wiring appear to offer the most
possibility of effective action
Of these three categories,
lightning fires are by far the
most numerous. However, the
average loss per fire (in the
$lOOO range) is rather low so the
total loss represents only 117
per cent of the loss from all
barn fires This seems to indi
cate that farmers have done a
pretty good job of providing
lightning rods and grounding
sheet metal roofs, and have
taken various other steps to re
duce lightning damage. Without
considerable research there
—— //$
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probably isn’t much advice that
can be given other than to in
tensify the same piogram and
stiess maintenance of lightning
protective equipment.
While defective wiring has
been blamed for so many fires
that jokes about it have grown
up, it does represent a sufficient
ly large enough percentage of
the total damage to justify con
siderable effort in any program
to reduce fire losses.
Much work has already been
dene in the field of adequate
wiring, new materials, codes,
etc., relative to reducing the
hazards of electric wiring in
barns. This is far too large a
field to cover here. However,
in passing it may be pointed
(Continued on Page 24)
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