PHOTOS BY JERRY WOLKOWITZ Too late to save 20 standardbreds, firefighters douse a barn fire at Gaitway Farm, Manalapan, at about 11 p.m. Nov. 23.
MANALAPAN — Thanksgiving is normally a time of happiness and celebration. It is a time to give thanks for all the joys in life. Tragically, life is not always so joyful.
In the late-evening hours of Thanksgiving Day, a fire erupted in Barn No. 5 at Gaitway Farm, Route 33. In a matter of minutes, 20 standardbred horses perished in the inferno.
According to Monmouth County Fire Marshal Tim Smith, the fire broke out at 10:26 p.m. Nov. 23. Manalapan Township Fire Company No. 1, Sweetman’s Lane, responded to the emergency call first, only to arrive too late. By the time the engines arrived, the 185-foot-long barn was "well involved," with flames shooting out of the barn windows and roof, officials said.
Firefighters from 10 area companies subsequently arrived on scene to bring the fire under control.
On the morning after a Thanksgiving night fire that killed 20 horses at Gaitway Farm, Manalapan, investigators from the Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s Office and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office check the charred remains of the barn that burned.
"All we could do was water down a nearby barn to keep it from catching fire, too," said Pat Flannery, a volunteer fireman with the Manalapan Township Fire Company No. 1. "The fire was coming out of the windows, and the roof caved in on itself. There was a lot of heat."
The heat and flames were so intense that firefighters could only get within 40 yards of the burning building. The windshield of Engine No. 77 from Manalapan Township Fire Company No. 1 cracked from the heat while running water shuttles from the tankers to the barn.
Officials said it took the firefighters one hour to suppress the massive blaze. No one fighting the fire was injured in the operation.
An investigation conducted by the Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s Office revealed the cause of the fire to be the misuse of a submersible electric water heater.
Monmouth County Fire Marshal Timothy Smith holds the heating element which investigators believe started a fire in a barn at Gaitway Farm, Manalapan. To the left — for comparison purposes — is a new heating element.
"We followed the ‘V’ pattern of the burn on the walls back to the origin, which contained the heater device," explained Monmouth County Deputy Fire Marshal Richard Hogan.
The heating device is placed in a bucket of water and plugged into a standard outlet. Electric current then heats the water, which is mixed with dry food to make mash for the horses. Fire officials said a safety label on the device warns people to use it only with a metal bucket and never to leave the device unattended.
According to Gaitway Farm General Manager Tim Hundertpfund, this type of heater was banned from the farm in March 1996 when a small fire broke out in Barn No. 11. No horses died in that incident.
The manufacturer’s warnings as well as the banning of the device on the property were ignored, however, as the investigation found the remains of a plastic bucket surrounding the coiled heating device.
Monmouth County Deputy Fire Marshal Richard Hogan of Manalapan provides details of the Nov. 23 Gaitway Farm barn fire to members of the media during a press conference held the afternoon following the deadly blaze.
The cause of the fire was determined to be accidental. No criminal charges are expected to be filed against the person responsible, whom officials did not name last week. An investigation into the fire is continuing, according to Hogan.
The closure of the criminal case left some horse trainers and owners with a feeling of anger.
"Whoever did this should be responsible for what they did," said Benjamin Geraci, a trainer whose horse Whatarula perished in the blaze. "You don’t need something like that. There are hot water heaters in the barns. Who feeds mash at 10:30 p.m.?"
The horse’s owner, JoAnne Geraci, told officials through tears, "You shouldn’t close (the investigation). Something should be done."
JoAnne Geraci, whose horse Whatarula died in the Gaitway Farm fire, tries to compose herself as she talks about her horse on Nov. 24, the day after the blaze.
In a statement, Hundertpfund tried to answer several questions about the incident.
"Several accusations have been made, fingers have been pointed. A facility is only as safe as the people who occupy it. With all barns up to code, fire extinguishers in place, if someone is careless or improperly uses equipment, a disaster such as this one can occur," he said.
"We can all say ‘if’ there were a fire alarm, however, located in the center of 200 acres, no one could have heard it. On a holiday such as Thanksgiving, many people spend it with families and loved ones … On a typical night, there are people in and out of the farm at all hours of the evening. When it comes down to it, it was the carelessness of one individual. With a 75-gallon hot water heater in each barn, there is no reason to use a submersible water heater."
There are no smoke detectors or fire alarms in the Gaitway Farm barns, however, they are not required by law to be installed in the barns.
JERRY WOLKOWITZ Veterinarian Dr. Patrick Knapman of Freehold Township examines Netback, the only horse to be rescued from a fire that killed 20 horses and destroyed a barn at Gaitway Farm, Manalapan, on Thanksgiving night.
"Gaitway Farm and its entire staff’s deepest sympathy goes out to everyone involved who lost a horse," Hundertpfund said. "We will make every effort to help them in any way possible. Gaitway Farm has and will continue to work closely with the Manalapan Township Bureau of Fire Prevention to keep the facility as safe as possible."
The one positive note of the night came on the shoulders of a neighboring farm’s trainer. Officials said Jeff Webster of Showplace Farm, Route 33, Millstone Township, was driving by Gaitway Farm when he noticed smoke coming from a barn. Webster raced to the barn and opened the side door. Heavy smoke poured out the entrance. Nonetheless Webster was able to free one horse, Netback, from the flaming building.
Dr. Patrick Knapman, a Freehold Township veterinarian, examined Netback that night and the next day.
"He’s doing good. A good sign is that he is eating normally. There was some smoke inhalation in the lungs and he was singed a bit, but he should be all right," Knapman said. "There may be some scarring of the lungs but that will heal in time. The best thing for him is rest."
Candy Clarke, of Jackson Township, who works out of Barn No. 2 at Gaitway Farm, expressed the magnitude of the loss from the perspective of horse owners and trainers, saying, "Your whole life is gone. How do you rebuild that? Most horses are uninsured, it’s not like having a car. Everything is lost."
Among the casualties of the Gaitway Farm fire was Cam Knows Best, a champion standardbred who was the runner-up in the 1998 Little Brown Jug, one of harness racing’s Triple Crown events.
A memorial service for the horses killed in the fire at Gaitway Farm is planned for Dec. 2 at Freehold Raceway, Freehold.