Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most of the Owl Hollow Farm facility near Virginia 680 collapsed in the flames, but firefighters did save about 25 horse stalls and the 40 or so high-priced show horses.
"Some of them were banged up, but none were seriously hurt," Locust Grove Volunteer Fire Chief Sammy Vest said. He said he thought the farm's prize black stallion, Van Lu Starbuck, a 1984 world champion, was among the horses saved. Tuesday night, they were being sent to other farms to be stabled.
There was little firefighters could do to save the main house and other buildings.
"It was going full blast [when we got there]," said Willis Volunteer Fire Chief Tony Weddle. "Of course, the wind was against us, too."
The stately, two-story, colonial-style brick house, flanked by two metal utility buildings, sat on a high knob exposed to the wind. Weddle said the result was a chimney-like effect that fanned the flames.
The fire was discovered about 9 a.m. by the daughter of manager and head trainer Stephen McBroom. The girl was home sick from school, Weddle said. McBroom's wife nearly was trapped in the burning main house, but stable hands rescued her with a ladder.
Weddle said it appeared that the fire started in the kitchen of the main house, where the McBrooms lived. The fire appeared to be accidental. Weddle said losses totaled over $1 million.
The 116-acre Owl Hollow Farm was set up in the mid-1970s by several investors, and the main house, with its white-pillared front, was built in 1984.
McBroom raised Morgan horses of show quality, which sell for $150,000 to $300,000 dollars. McBroom estimated in 1989 that Owl Hollow was the largest of eight Morgan farms in Virginia.
Destroyed in the blaze, besides the main house, were a veterinary facility, a show ring with a lounge overlooking it, and a heated barn.
With snow and temperatures in the teens and below forecast for Tuesday night, horse farmers from all over the region called the Floyd County Sheriff's Office this afternoon offering to take in the homeless horses.
"They sent horses all over the country," Vest said. "They got horses going every direction."
Weddle compared the farming out of the horses to what happened to the cows left out in the cold by a fire Saturday afternoon at the Little Mountain Dairy in nearby Willis. About 80 Holsteins were shipped to as far away as North Carolina after their barn burned.
Weddle said he didn't know where McBroom and his family would stay Tuesday night.
"He probably won't get any sleep tonight, anyway," he said.
by CNB