Fire Chief: Crystal Lake horse farm fire not suspicious

Authorities have ruled out arson as a possible cause of a weekend fire at a McHenry County area horse farm that killed 32 horses and caused an estimated $1 million damage.

Investigators believe the fire at Valley View Acres, 5116 Mt. Thabon Road near Crystal Lake, began in the second story of a barn but are still trying to determine the cause, Crystal Lake Fire Chief Paul DeRaedt said Monday.

"We're pretty confident in saying right now it's not suspicious," he said.

The fire at the family-run horse-boarding business broke out about 10:45 p.m. Saturday.

Five horses escaped and were found in a nearby field, but 32 of them died, DeRaedt said.

The chief said investigators believe the fire broke out in a second-story hay storage area. But the fire burned that level, the first level and into the basement, possibly destroying evidence that would establish the fire's case, DeRaedt said.

He said the Bauman family that owns the farm was using some wall heaters in the barn, but investigators were still trying to pin down exactly how many.

"We don't have anything that's jumping out at us right now" as far as the fire's cause, DeRaedt said.

Efforts to reach owner Amber Bauman were not immediately successful Monday.

On Sunday, she described herself as "devastated" and said the fire was every barn owner's "worst nightmare."

Supporters also sent their thoughts to Bauman and the deceased horses via Facebook.

"I am beyond sad, beyond heartbroken. This stable meant so much to me," former Harper College student Melissa Moncada, who rode at the stable in the 1990s, wrote to the stable in a Facebook message. "Words cannot express how sad I am for all the horses that lost their lives and the owners who lost their loved ones."