Barn, Residence Destroyed, Two Horses Dead in Minnesota Equestrian Center Fire

Winona, Minn. – On November 21, 2024, at 1155 hours, Wilson firefighters were dispatched to the Minnesota Equestrian Center (MEC) on Gilmore Valley Rd for a reported barn fire. The caller reported that everyone was out of the building.

MEC is a large complex of barns and show arenas that are all interconnected to each other through breezeways and corridors. There is also an attached residence on the front of the building.

Initial arriving personnel found the first barn in the structure was fully engulfed, and the attached residence was heavily involved in fire. Due to the size of the building, the heavy fuel load within the building, and the advanced stage of the fire, additional personnel and water tenders were requested from Ridgeway FD, Winona FD, Goodview FD, and Lewiston FD.

Firefighters began a defensive fire attack on the breezeway that connected the burning barn to the show arena in an effort to stop the spread of the fire. Once the fire in the breezeway was darkened down, we began an interior attack in the arena to further keep the fire at bay. Additional resources were requested at this time, and Winona FD and St Charles FD responded with aerial fire apparatus. Additional water tenders were also requested from Rushford FD and Kellogg FD.

By this point, the original fire building was mostly collapsed, and the aerial fire apparatus were used to bank water down onto the building in an effort to extinguish the fire that was largely inaccessible from the ground. Due to the prolonged interior fire attack in the arena, the decision was made to call an excavator to the scene to remove the breezeway from the arena to minimize the potential of fire spread.

When the excavator arrived, the breezeway was removed, and the debris was pushed away from the arena.

Fire crews remained on scene for several hours, seeking out and extinguishing hot spots in the original fire building and monitoring the connected barns and arena for any fire spread. A fire watch was maintained throughout the night by MEC employees and Wilson FD personnel.

The fire damage to the arena was minimal, but the residence and first barn were total losses. The MN State Fire Marshall was also on scene to assist with the cause and origin investigation. The investigation is ongoing, but initial information indicates that the fire is not suspicious. There were no injuries to fire personnel or the public, but two horses and a cat died in the fire.

MEC is approximately 128,000 sq ft. Approximately 31,000 sq ft was completely lost in the fire, and 45,000 sq ft received minor smoke and heat damage. The remainder of the building received no damage or only minor smoke damage.

Fire crews pumped an estimated 120,000 gallons of water on the fire, and tanker operators made over 50 round trips to water sources to haul water to the scene.

MEC is the largest structure in our response area and one of the largest in rural Winona County. A fire of this size can not be brought under control without help from our mutual aid partners and assisting agencies. Thank you to Ridgeway Fire & Rescue , Winona Fire Department , Goodview Fire and Rescue , Lewiston, Mn Fire/Rescue , Rushford Fire Department , St. Charles Fire & Rescue, Kellogg Fire Department, Winona County Emergency Management , Winona County Sheriff’s Office , Winona Area Ambulance Service , the Winona Police Department , MiEnergy Coop , and Consolidated Energy Company. Additionally, Hy-Vee delivered food and water for the firefighters.

Nearly 100 personnel worked for over 8 hrs to bring this emergency to a resolution. The majority of those people were volunteers who left their jobs or families, canceled appointments, or skipped their errands to respond to this fire. The volunteer fire service as a whole is struggling to recruit new members to fill gaps in their ranks. Fire like this are exactly why we need a robust, well prepared volunteer fire fighting force in Winona County. Any delays or staffing shortages may have resulted in a much worse outcome in what was already a devastating day for MEC. Please consider supporting your community by joining or donating to your volunteer fire department.

Further inquiries related to this fire or the volunteer fire service as a whole can be directed to wilsonfireandrescue@gmail.com. -Wilson Fire and Rescue, Winona, Minn.