Fire officials say five horses have died following a barn fire at a training facility in Milton early Friday.
Firefighters responded to the First Line Training Centre at 1308 Arkell Rd. just west of First Line Nassagaweya around 1:15 a.m. and located a barn fully engulfed in flames.
“The far side of the barn was fully involved. The barn housed 40 horses,” Milton Fire Chief Dave Pratt told Global News.
Fire officials said emergency responders, including local police, helped rescue most of the horses inside the barn. A number of horses were also treated for burns.
In total, two horses died in the barn and three others had to be put down due to their injuries, Milton Fire said.
The flames were quickly extinguished and the source of the fire is believed to have come from a farming machine.
“In my opinion, just walking around the building, there’s a tractor on the outside of the building that was plugged in. It had a block heater in it. That appears to me to be the source,” Pratt said.
“We’ll bring an investigative team up once there is light and we’ll do a thorough investigation to determine the origin and cause.”
Pratt said the damage to the barn is estimated to be at least $300,000.
— With a file from Jeremy Cohn