14 horses dead in Bedford barn fire

BEDFORD: A horse barn was reduced to rubble and ash after a massive fire tore through a New Hampshire farm killing at least 14 of the animals trapped inside.

Eight horses and ponies and one pig survived the fire at Perry Hill Farm, an equestrian academy in Bedford, N.H.

Investigators said flames moved so quickly that it took less than an hour for the 10,000 square-foot building to burn to the ground.

"They were in boxed stalls and so they would have had to have been released," said Chief Scott Wiggin of the Bedford, N.H. fire department. "There's no partitions that separate, there's no way of compartmentalizing the fire. So it just runs from one end of the building to another and it consumes itself rapidly."

A handful of horses and ponies were led to safety, but not enough of the animals survived to console the owners and their friends who ran to the scene in tears. Strangers also offered their support.