Costly Fatal Fire at Ohio Race Track

A FIRE BROKE OUT AT 5 AM SATURDAY MORNING in Lebanon, Ohio, at the Lebanon Raceway, a harness racing track. Lebanon firefighters told reporters that when they arrived on the scene, most of the building was fully involved and part of the roof had already collapsed. Shortly after the fire was knocked down, the bodies of two adult males were found in the north end of the barn along with the remains of 43 horses.

Barn Fire

Dayton Daily News / Alvey

The race track and horse barns are located on the Warren County Fairgrounds which is about midway between Dayton and Cincinnati. Barn 16, which is the fire site, was 250 ft. long and 80 ft wide with facilities to stable 80 racehorses. Autopsies were scheduled for today to determine the identities of the two men. The racetrack’s lead trainer said that two of his grooms were unaccounted for and it is probable that they are the two victims. Crew sleeping is prohibited in the barns, but it is not known if that is what they were doing, or whether they had just arrived early to begin work, which is normal behavior in that industry. Saturday was a scheduled race day, but the card was canceled for the day following the tragedy.

This report from WDTN-TV Ch. 5 Dayton was filed last night and provides a good summary of the event:

Fire marshals quickly determined that the fire was not the result of a suspicious activity, but it will take them a few days to determine the actual cause of the blaze.

CNN has more details on the fire HERE.