Kesmarc-Ocala Hyperbaric explosion

[Kasept]

http://www.ocala.com/article/2012021...CLES/120219990

One woman, one horse dead. Another woman badly hurt. Scary.

[Arletta]

Good lord! This is so sad

[VOL JACK]

Eisaman Equine has a photo of the barn on their Facebook page.

[Kasept]

Horse killed was an eventer: http://www.eventingnation.com/home/

[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.

[Merlinsky]

So tragic. I've always wondered about the safety risks in those chambers. Glad to know all the precautions normally taken. I guess there must've been some reason why a horse with metal shoes went in there? I might not be fully understanding the mechanics of how they deal with shod horses. I feel terrible for those women and that poor horse that had no idea it was making things worse for itself. My thoughts are with the families of those involved and everyone at the facility.

[outofthebox]

Tragic. I use the HBOT chamber here at Evangeline Training Center a couple of times a week, so this really hits hard. This chamber has a portable stall inside to protect both horse and equipment. I am now going to put vet wrap around my horses shoes for safety precautions after hearing of this tragedy.

[Danzig]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...ion?source=rss


i was wondering if this would turn out to be the case, but i really figured they'd pull a horses shoes to avoid something like this happening.

[Riot]

We've been discussing this on the veterinary lists. There are at least four things in that article, that if true, are ... well, they shouldn't be.

Very, very sad.

Edit: here is a more detailed story http://www.ocala.com/article/2012021...NEWS?p=1&tc=pg

The article does lack some information on animal hyperbaric chamber use.

In human medicine, hyperbaric chamber operators, doctors, nurses, are certified as such by the National Board of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Technology. You take a specific intensive detailed course regarding hyperbaric medicine, uses and research, how the chamber works (including safety), basic physics, etc., then have practical training, then you pass a detailed certification exam (I took this course, as a veterinarian, in Texas at a human hospital hyperbaric facility with human doctors)

There is also the Underseas and Hyperbaric Medical Society, and the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine for doctors.

In veterinary medicine, the above organization NBDHMT just created a "veterinary" certified hyperbaric technologist position, due to the recent years increased use of hyperbaric chambers with animals (interested veterinarians used to take the human doctor course, then extrapolate to our patients).

There is indeed a Veterinary Medical Hyperbaric Society http://www.vet.utk.edu/vhms/ of interested practitioners and researchers, which has the goal of standardizing medical training, clinical research, clinical treatments, safety and appropriate certification as the specialized aspect of veterinary practice hyperbaric medicine is. The American Veterinary Medical Association supports that, too.

At this time, while human medicine and law recognizes human hyperbaric medicine and controls it, anybody can purchase a real hyperbaric chamber, and put animals in it. Very common in the equine world. Operators and users don't have to be trained, certified or anything. You don't need a medical license to purchase oxygen for your chamber (a drug requiring same for hospital use), you can be sold, by the same oxygen company, "non-medical oxygen" to use for a chamber for animals.

Although hyperbaric medicine and "using hyperbaric chambers" (two different things, IMO) is overall extremely safe, if something goes wrong, it can go wrong in a very bad way, as we've unfortunately seen in both human and animal medicine. The veterinary professions most common position is that hyperbaric medicine use in animals should fall under the purvue of veterinary medicine. I support that for all the reasons given.

Note: you can go on the internet and purchase a "home hyperbaric chamber" - this is not the same thing as a "real" chamber that can support higher pressures.

[trackrat59]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...e-chamber.html

RIP Erica. Prayers for her husband. So sad.

That's awful.

Something needs to be done about safety. This could have been prevented with a system of fines and punishment. The fact that they didn't have someone from Homeland Security there to monitor the treatment speaks volumes about their competency. Everyone knows that a Homeland Security officer can be the difference between life and death.