Investigators in Illinois are probing the cause of a barn fire that claimed 18 horses in Plainfield.

Mary Ludemann, fire inspector for the Plainfield Fire Protection District, said firefighters responded to a barn fire at the Del Real Stable in Kendall County in the early morning hours of July 5.

“By the time crews got there, the barn was on the edge of being fully involved in fire,” she said. 

Thirty horses were residing in the barn at the time of the blaze, Ludemann said. Of those, owners were able to rescue 12