Horses evacuated during minor barn fire at The Big E

The fire over at the Big E in 22 News was able to get an exclusive interview. And right now, 22 News reporter Julia O'Keefe joins us live now in West Springfield. Julia, what do we know now? That's right, Kiara. I'm here with Big E President and CEO Gene Cassidy, and he's here to tell us more about the fire that happened last night. Gene, what can you tell us? Well, sometime shortly after 11 o'clock, a fire broke out in the stall that's behind us. We don't know the cause of the fire at this point. The marshals are here investigating. Fire suppression kicked in. Westside Fire was here immediately. We had 161 horses in the barn, Friesians, Morgans, Saddlebred, Hackneys. There were so many horses, a few of them got loose, but they're all accounted for. And there were some minor injuries to the horses. They were a little excited, so some of them had some abrasions, and a couple of them needed a stitch or two. So we had a couple of employees from our cleaning services that were involved in aiding in the horses. One suffered a broken leg, and the sisters, actually, and another had a broken rib. And then very, very thankfully, a young man from Skip's Sheds, a fellow named Christopher, lent some help getting the horses out of the barn, and he might have gotten a little bruise from a horse that knocked him over. But thanks to Chris, Westside Fire, everybody's safe. The damage is confined to just a small area. Some wetness in the barn today, but everybody seems to be in good shape. Horse communities have met a great group of people, taking good care of their animals, and we'll be up and running in this barn by the end of the day. Great, Gene. Thank you so much. It's good to hear that we'll be back up and running. But just to double-check, the cause of the fire is still being investigated right now, correct? Yes. We don't know how the fire started. There's a mishap inside that stall. I wouldn't even pretend to know what caused it. I'm sure we'll know pretty soon. And those individuals involved, is there any word on how they're doing right now? Yeah, everybody was released. Chris, who could support you, had a big smile on his face, but the two young women are fine, and the horses are fine. This is a disaster diverted. It happens that the U.S. Equestrian Federation, which is the sanctioning body that examines horse facilities, has just let me know that our facility passed with flying colors, with the highest rating that they give. So certainly this event and the way it was contained is testimony to the eastern states and the equestrian world's ability to run a great show. Great. That's good to hear that everyone is doing okay. Thank you so much again for your time today. Is there anything else that we should know about the day ahead? Well, the day ahead is going to be a great biggie day. I'm sad that we're going to miss our Saddlebred shows today, but we'll be up and running with our draft horses pretty soon. Great, great. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time this morning, Gene. And on 22 News, we'll continue to provide updates on this story on air, online, and on the 22 News mobile app. Working for you live in West Springfield this morning, Julia O'Keefe, 22 News.