County committee sends horse barn fire rules to the state

A Saratoga County committee formed after the June 16 barn fire that killed 17 standardbred horses at Saratoga Casino Hotel has sent its first set of safety recommendations to the New York State Gaming Commission. The committee approved the recommendations unanimously on September 14 and delivered them to the state on September 22, according to WNYT and a Saratoga TODAY report published September 24.

The Horse Racing Fire Safety and Prevention Advisory Committee was organized in early July by Sarah Burger, who represents Saratoga Springs on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, according to the county’s committee page. Members include people from the racing industry, fire departments, emergency management, horse owners and trainers, and outside experts in barn construction and fire safety. This first set of recommendations deals with the barn buildings themselves. Three more sets are planned.

What the committee is asking the state to require

The recommendations are written as best practices the committee believes can be applied at every racetrack in New York, not just the harness track on Jefferson Street. The main points, as reported by WNYT:

• Racetrack barns should be treated as commercial buildings under the fire code. They should not get the agricultural exemption that applies to farm barns simply because they house horses.
• Barns built after 1890 should receive fire-resistive treatment.
• Barns larger than 5,500 square feet should have fire barriers to slow a fire’s spread and buy time to get horses out.
• Every barn should have automatic sprinklers or an alternative suppression system such as water mist, non-toxic sprays or automatically triggered extinguishers.
• Every barn needs a professional fire alarm and detection system. The committee says household battery smoke alarms are not suitable for barns.
• Every barn should have an evacuation plan with marked exits, emergency lighting, a designated outdoor holding area for horses and a way to keep horses from running back into their stalls.
• A lead line should hang at every stall so first responders, owners and trainers can move a horse without hunting for equipment.

Burger told WNYT the point is to add layers of protection that slow a fire down and give people more time to get horses out. In the Saratoga TODAY report she called the letter a significant milestone, and Tracy Kozak, an architect who led the committee’s discussion of the building recommendations, said they are based on proven building safety standards and past fire performance.

The fire that started this

Crews were called to the harness track backstretch at about 2:30 a.m. on June 16 and found a barn fully involved, according to a WNYT report on the investigation. Saratoga Springs police body camera video released later showed officers pulling horses out of the barn next door. Seventeen horses died. Saratoga Springs Fire Chief Joseph Dolan said in early September that the investigation is complete and the cause is undetermined.

The state’s own review found problems that went beyond one barn. In August the Gaming Commission said its preliminary investigation turned up a lack of response planning, no water supply near the barns for firefighters and, in many barns statewide, no smoke detectors at all, according to WNYT. The commission ordered every track to install at least smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors and said more recommendations would follow.

What the track has done so far

Saratoga Casino Hotel, which owns the harness track and the backstretch barns, said in August that it had stepped up security walks and patrols and was installing 350 smoke detectors across its barns, with the work scheduled to finish the week of August 22, according to WNYT. The company also said:

• Security staff attended an equine workshop on animal behavior so they can recognize a horse in distress.
• The Saratoga Springs Fire Department inspects all of the track’s barns twice a year.
• The track is taking part in the county committee.

The Saratoga Casino Hotel runs harness racing on the half-mile oval on Jefferson Street, just east of the thoroughbred track, along with the casino, hotel and restaurants on the same property. The harness meet, the stables and the horsemen who work there are a year-round business on the east side of the city, and they are the employers and tenants most directly affected by whatever the state adopts.

What happens next

The committee’s letter is a recommendation, not a rule. Here is the path from here, as the committee and county have described it.

1. The Gaming Commission reviews the first set of recommendations. Burger has said she hopes the commission can mandate them at every New York track.
2. If the commission lacks authority for some items, Burger said she hopes the Legislature or the governor’s office will take them up. The building-code changes, in particular, may need action beyond the commission.
3. The committee issues three more sets of recommendations in the coming weeks: combustibles stored inside barns, fire response and planning, and education and training.

Our read: the item with the biggest cost is sprinklers. Retrofitting suppression systems into decades-old wood barns on a backstretch with no nearby water supply is expensive, and the committee’s own list acknowledges that by offering mist and automatic extinguishers as alternatives. The fight over who pays, the track or the state or the horsemen, has not started yet. The recommendations about alarms, lead lines and evacuation plans are cheap by comparison and could be in place before winter.

The county posts the committee’s agendas and meeting videos on its website, and the committee’s meetings are open to the public.

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