Kesmarc-Ocala Hyperbaric explosion

[Riot]

Terrible, tragic thing. My heart goes out to the families. Kesmarc has always had a reputation for doing good, safe hyperbaric medicine.

Darren Ley, who works at New Episode Training Center at 2001 NW 110th Ave. told a Star-Banner reporter that people he knew at Kesmarc told him that the horse was shoed and that the thrashing of the animal's hooves may have ignited a spark.

Standard procedure is to cover shoes w/wrap, remove them to prevent spark, or use rubber floor/walls. Use only cotton halters without metal. Dampen down the haircoat first with water to remove static spark threat. Etc.

Sparks will cause an in-chamber fire of combustables, but rarely an explosion. From the video,

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/tablet_showc...itation-center

it appears the chamber is still intact, but blew straight up off the foundation. There isn't much to kick inside that chamber model, but a sudden decompression could cause a non-fire "explosion".

[trackrat59]

This is so sad. It's one of the last things you think you will ever read about.

This happened about two miles down 326 from us, and we heard the explosion. Lots of sirens followed. HITS (Horseshow in the Sun) is in progress down here, so lots of show horses and people around.

I believe Kesmarc is the old Farnsworth Farms facility.

Very sad.


Ocala Mike

[paisjpq]

from what I've heard they were doing a rapid release to get the horse out becasue he was panicking. In that situation a spark could very well have caused this explosion. Terrible tragedy.

[Riot]

That makes a fire here in KY, and an explosion recently in the equine hyperbaric world. We can't get complacent about safety as the technology becomes affordable and common at equine rehab centers.

I think this type of chamber has a rate-limited emergency decompression rate (I'd have to ask Dr. Slovis), so a manual emergency decompression couldn't be done too fast for operator and patient safety (I hope!), and they shouldn't have been able to open the door latches until the decompression is completed.

I'll guess the panicking, kicking horse may have broken the door seal enough to cause the explosive decompression, or something went terribly mechanically wrong with the emergency decompress (too fast) or the door latching/hinges failed during the decompress or from damage from the horse. I don't know who builds this brand of unit, would have to look it up.

They should be able to figure the cause out pretty quickly. No comfort for the families of the deceased and injured.

I think it's important to remember that oxygen, even 100% and pressurized in a hyperbaric chamber, isn't a combustible gas, a spark will not "ignite" it and make it explode.

[turf fan]

Horrible to hear about this accident. Hub Johnson is the principle owner of KESMARC. He and his staff have rehabilitated horses for me in the past in their Lexington facility and I have nothing but positives to report. What a tragic event. I am sure Hub and his staff are devastated. Our prayers go out to all the injured and survivors.

[trackrat59]

I still can't get over this. Been thinking about it all day.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by trackrat59

I still can't get over this. Been thinking about it all day.

Ditto. Very sad. And rare. I checked the literature, found less than a fire a year (in human use) but explosions (human) are rare. The horse must have kicked hell out of the inside of the chamber to cause such a catastrophic failure. I've always only seen them use certified hyperbaric techs who know their equipment and what they are doing, and take good care of the horses.