CLINTON TWP — Ted Tomson can be excused for being a little paranoid these days. For the second time in 14 months, a barn was destroyed by fire Saturday at the Stark Road farm where he breeds racing horses. “Do I think it’s suspicious? Yeah,” said Tomson, who lives in Natrona Heights, Allegheny County, But he doesn’t know if someone is to blame. The latest fire broke out around 1:30 p.m. at Tomson’s 140-acre farm. The farm is part of his family business, TSM Racing, which breeds and races horses for events at the Meadows in Washington County and Pocono Downs in Luzerne County. The barn — a one-story pole building equipped with electrical power — is used to store hay and oats for the horses. Tomson said he feeds his 20 horses there, too. “I was there (Saturday) and fed them at 10 a.m. I left at 10:15 a.m., he said. “I didn’t smell any smoke and I didn’t turn anything on.” No injuries were reported and none of the horses were harmed. The fire, however, leveled the barn and caused minor damage to a nearby silo. The relatively new barn was rebuilt for $30,000 after it was destroyed in a fire on May 12, 2011 Fire officials said neither fire was considered to be suspicious. Fire officials could only speculate that round bales of hay stored in the barn got too hot and might have spontaneously ignited.
