Barn Fire Kills 27 Horses in Charles Town, W.Va.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A fire official says 27 horses were killed in a fire near the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia.

Independent Fire Company Chief Ed Smith tells The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown, Md., that 25 of the horses were in one barn and two were in another. Additional horses were rescued from two other privately owned barns behind the race track in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.

The fire was reported at 4:41 a.m. Monday. Smith says flames shot as high as 50 feet.

Firefighters worked through the day recovering the bodies of horses. Smith said the cause of the fire was unknown.

Smith told The Journal newspaper in Martinsburg, W.Va. that total damage to the barns was about $1.2 million. The value of the horses was unknown.