High-rising flames gut old horse barn off Concord Road
With thick black smoke visible miles away caused by high-rising flames, an old horse barn across from Capital Bank, 136 Concord Road, was gutted late Wednesday afternoon.
Though no one from Rural/Metro Fire Department was available for comment, witnesses on scene when RMFD arrived around 5:05 p.m. did not observe anyone being treated for injuries or transported by Rural/Metro Ambulance.
There were no eyewitness accounts of horses being killed on injured in the blaze — no horses making any noise — and no horses were observed roaming the grounds.
As for what caused the fire, one eyewitness who observed the barn explode into flames said a pair of "young adult guys" claimed "they saw two kids start some hay on fire. ... [The young adult guys] talked to some cops and whomever else."
This eyewitness said he was driving north on Concord Road just before 5 p.m. “when I smelled smoke."
Though continuing on his way toward Kingston Pike, he said he was diverted into a parking lot just north of Capital Bank because of a traffic accident at the Kingston Pike-Concord Road intersection.
"So I turned around to come through the parking lot to get over to Kingston Pike ... I see smoke billowing out the far end [of the barn]," he said.
Upon a closer look, "I see flames inside the barn," he added. "... I thought, 'that's going to go up in smoke pretty quick' because I'm sure it had hay in it. ... I didn't hear any horses kicking on the walls or anything."
The witness said those “two young adult guys ... ran into the [southern] end [of the barn] to look for animals and apparently there were none in there. ... They ran in and said there were no animals, and it got hot and they heard [expletive] crackling up above them, and they said, 'let's get the h--- out of here.'"
On a sentimental note, one woman on scene witnessing the burning said, "I used to play in that barn" as a child.
