Firefighters fought for almost 14 hours on Monday a fire that destroyed a hay barn at a Barrington Hills horse farm.
Still unknown is the exact the cause of the fire, which ignited at about 8:30 a.m. on a 150-acre farm at 1 Deepwood Road. The blaze forced into action dozens of firefighters from several neighboring communities, and the job wasn't complete until about 10 p.m., officials said.
Barrington Deputy Fire Chief John Feit said an official cause has yet to be determined, but all indications are the fire had natural causes, most likely combustion.
"It's absolutely not a suspicious fire at all," he said.
Cathy LeCompte, who has owned the property with her husband since 1992, said the 68 tons of hay and the 2,600-square-foot barn containing the hay quickly succumbed to the blaze.
"It was amazing to me how fast it spread," said LeCompte, who watched the barn erupt into flames after receiving a call from a worker on the property who noticed the fire. "Instantaneously, the entire facility was engulfed with flames."
LeCompte, her husband and two others immediately raced to two barns located near the burning hay barn and evacuated a total of 39 horses, moving them to pastures and paddocks as far away from the fire as possible.
No one, human or animal, was harmed, she said. Feit confirmed.
"It was good that it was (the hay barn) that caught on fire," LeCompte said, considering the possible alternatives.
The stable nearest the burning hay barn, which was originally built in 1939, houses 10 of LeCompte's personal horses. The other stable houses 29 other horses. LeCompte breeds and trains hunter-jumper horses on the farm, of which 70 acres are used to produce horse hay.
Feit said the hay barn contained only hay.
"When we got there, the barn was entirely consumed," he said. "I couldn't even begin to tell you what it even looked like."
Taking place in a rural community with no fire hydrants, the fire forced a box alarm, which called to action 13 other area fire departments to provide tankers of water in assisting Barrington firefighters put out the initial blaze.
Feit said the initial fire was under control within 40 minutes of the call, which came in at 8:29 a.m. Afterward, a contractor was summoned to move by tractor the large, burning bales of hay to a neighboring pasture, where they could be broken down, spread out and extinguished of fire.
"It's the only way you can put these fires out," Feit said. "These were big round bales of hay."
Feit said it wasn't until Monday evening that all the hay was transported away from LeCompte's property, where firefighters were also concerned with protecting other structures, including a mobile home and a trailer full of wood chips.
"The bales of hay were still burning while the guy in the tractor was driving them out into the field," Feit said. "The more you move them, the more they're exposed to air, the more they start on fire."
It helped, Feit said, that 11 inches of snow had fallen on the fields. Firefighters scooped snow on top of the burning hay to help put out the fire.
And despite spending the whole day at LeCompte's property, the fire department had no major conflicts with other calls, Feit said, noting another example of good fortune.
In all, LeCompte estimated she lost about $15,000 worth of hay, enough to feed the horses all winter. It had just recently been cut and stored to the barn's capacity, she said.
LeCompte said friends and neighbors, also horse farm owners, had already offered to replenish her hay stock.
"I'm just kind of awestruck," she said, tearing up. "They've just been wonderful."
LeCompte also had nothing but good things to say about the firefighters who came to her rescue.
"I am so incredibly impressed with the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District," she said. "The whole thing ran like a well-oiled clock. They were spectacular all day."
