Stable Fire Traced To Faulty Refrigerator

A faulty refrigerator in a tack room is to blame for Saturday’s fire at the Bannock County Fairgrounds that destroyed a barn and killed 14 race horses.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Don Bailey said Thursday that abnormal burn patterns on the refrigerator two stalls down from the barn’s north end led investigators to the fire’s source.

Bailey said an electrical relay inside the refrigerator’s compressor overheated and may have ignited accumulated dust.

Bannock County Commissioner Tom Katsilometes said he and other county officials were focusing on recovering from the barn’s loss and were not concerned with assigning blame. The county’s liability insurance will cover the estimated $200,000 loss.

Fairgrounds manager Rebecca Satter said fairgrounds policy prohibits the use of appliances inside stalls and tack rooms.