LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Arson investigators are now calling Tuesday's early morning fire at the Kentucky Exposition Center "suspicious" because of the location and size. Eight horse barns caught fire around 2 a.m. Four were destroyed; another four were damaged.
"Just based on the timeline and four barns at once that are not in the same wind direction pattern or anything, so we're working it as a suspicious fire, but we're not eliminating anything," said Maj. Henry Ott of the Louisville Metro Arson Squad.
Wednesday, investigators brought in a specialist from Ohio to look for a cause. William is a 4-year-old K-9 trained to sniff out accelerants. Investigators say dogs are used for the job because their noses are 300,000 times more sensitive to vapors than humans.
"The dog's going to give us a stronger indication of the low burnt patterns that we have," said Robert Goodwin with the State Fire Marshal's Office.
The fire destroyed four horse barns and damaged another four just days after it housed some of the best Saddlebred horses for the World's Championship Horse Show held during the Kentucky State Fair. No horses or people were injured in the fire.
