It appears that lightning sparked a barn fire where 18 horses were housed. Thanks to some heroes, 10 of them were saved. Here's the story from the Patriot Ledger newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts.
(Photo: Second floor of the barn on fire. Credit: John Cox)
Eversource worker sees fire in Walpole horse barn: What the rescue effort was like
Patriot Ledger Newspaper, July 17, 2025
* An Eversource worker, John Cox, noticed a barn fire in Walpole and alerted the
homeowners. Cox, along with the Kennedy family, rescued ten horses from the
burning barn before the fire department arrived. Tragically, eight horses
perished in the fire, and the cause is still under investigation. A GoFundMe
page has been established to support the Kennedy family and Mor Linn Farm.
Ten horses were saved from a fire in their Walpole barn thanks in part to the quick heroic action of John Cox.
Cox, a line worker, Response Specialist Organization with Eversource, was on his way to a call in Dedham shortly after 11 p.m. on Tuesday, July 8, when he noticed a “glow” to his left, coming from Mor Linn Farm on North Street, Walpole, Mass. he said.
“I drive by the horse farm all the time; it’s really pretty property. As I got closer, I could see fire on the roofline, and I saw the silhouette of two horses. I realized there were horses in there and that the barn was on fire.”Cox, a Weymouth resident, pulled his vehicle over and called 911 while running towards the house to alert the homeowners. “I didn’t see or hear anyone, no one was around,” Cox said. “I could hear the horses. I was running to the house yelling: ‘hey, hey, hey there’s a fire.”'
As he reached the house, Cox said the homeowner came out and asked him if he had called the fire department, which Cox said he had, and together they ran towards the two-story barn. They were joined by the man’s teenage son, and then his wife, and all furiously tried to save the horses. The farm is owned by Catherine and Cormac Kennedy.
“The fire was only on the roof at that point, and there wasn’t much smoke,” Cox said. “I have no experience with horses at all. The poor things didn’t want to get out; they kept backing into the stalls. They are so big and strong. It was pretty intense in there.”
Cox said the homeowner and his son were expertly grabbing the horses, while the wife went to another section of the barn and was taking horses from there and guiding them out to a field.
Eight horses that died in the fire were believed to have been in stalls on the second floor. Ten horses were rescued. In a short amount of time, Cox said things got worse – the fire intensified, and the barn filled with smoke.
“It was already below my head level,” he said. “Burning timbers were falling down.” He said the cries of the panicked horses were “terrible.”
Cox never feared the fire, but was nervous about not being able to find his way out of the barn as it was covered with smoke, and of being stomped by the horses as he tried to get them out.
The Walpole Fire Department arrived at the fire in about 10 minutes, Cox said. “They got there quick. They did a really great job saving the other structures. There was no saving the barn, though. It went up so fast.” Cox remained on the scene for a couple of hours. He had not been injured, but the firefighters treated him for smoke inhalation.
“I was coughing for about 20 minutes,” he said. “But I had no problems breathing.”
Cox believes a lightning strike caused the barn fire. "There was a lot of lightning that night," he said. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
“We are incredibly proud of John Cox, whose quick thinking and courageous actions helped save 10 horses,” said Mike Hayhurst, Vice President of Electric System Operations at Eversource. “His selflessness reflects the spirit of community service we strive for at Eversource every day.” Hayhurst also spoke of how heartbroken they were, despite Cox’s best efforts, by the tragic loss at Mor Linn Farm.
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