Another Mysterious Fire Destroys Rodeo Training Arena

Posted by Peter Young | 3 comments

Fifth Midwest barn fire in one month destroys rodeo equipment and training arena.

A massive fire destroyed a barn used by a rodeo in southern Illinois last night. The fire consumed the entire building and its contents, which included “expensive” equipment used for an annual rodeo. The was no word from investigators about a possible cause.

The fire destroyed a facility east of St Louis used by “Optimist Rodeo”. The organization holds an annual rodeo, which was scheduled to be held in June. There is no word on if the rodeo will be cancelled, or how the fire will affect the event.

I posted last week about four other recent farm fires in the Midwest, including three on the same night in which arson was ruled “probable”. One of these fires destroyed a barn at a dairy farm.

The fourth fire occurred at an Indiana mink farm, and was determined to have been started by embers from a trash can fire.

Investigators are calling the rodeo fire “suspicious”, however they note there have been other arsons in the area recently and there is no immediate evidence that activists are responsible.

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