Horse Barn Fire...16 horses lost

[Catherine]

This is so sad. The Sunnybrook Stables are on the north side of Toronto. The main barn caught fire and then a secondary barn. 
Sixteen horses have died in the fire. Fortunately emergency personnel acted quickly and 13 horses were rescued and transported to a safe location.  The cause of the fire is still not known.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/05...nside.html

I have never gone riding there, but I have thought about it. It is a local landmark.
Horses are so vulnerable in a fire. All animals in barns are vulnerable. Every year large numbers of animals die, trapped in barns.
I keep asking myself why there are not more safety precautions for barns. Some of the buildings are quite old and the wood is very dry. Do we need new fire proof barns. Does there need to be a much stricter fire safety code for barns than what we have now? The answer has to be a yes. If the fire safety codes were good enough barn fires would be rare.  Sadly they are not. 
Hundreds of animals die every year in barn fires.

This stable had sprinklers in its newer arena, but not many in the actual stables. Would a better sprinkler system have helped. 
Maybe. Is there something in the design of barns that makes them vulnerable? I just wish, given the number of barn fires, that someone would do a serious study to determine why they happen and what can be done to prevent them.