Daily Voice
By Zak Failla From Daily Voice
It’s hard enough to lose a barn. It’s another thing to lose the pieces of your life that lived inside it.
What started as an ordinary day in rural Carroll County ended in devastation when a massive barn fire ripped through Winter Spring Farm on Old Taneytown Road, destroying everything inside and leaving a local family reeling.
Maryland State Fire Marshal officials said the fire broke out around 1:50 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 3818 Old Taneytown Road in Taneytown. A passerby spotted the flames and alerted firefighters.
By the time crews reached the barn, the damage was already overwhelming.
Investigators said the fire tore through the interior of the structure, killing multiple small animals and reducing the building to a twisted, smoking pile of debris.
No injuries were reported, but many animals did not survive. Thirty-five firefighters from the Taneytown Volunteer Fire Company and surrounding agencies worked to bring the blaze under control in approximately an hour.
There were no smoke alarms, no sprinklers, and an estimated $50,000 in damage, according to fire officials. The cause remains under investigation.
The Carroll County fire.
The barn belonged to Donnie Lentzner and Kory Elbin, a Taneytown family whose life revolves around horses, agriculture, and the daily work that comes with running a farm, according to loved ones.
And the loss wasn’t just structural — it was deeply personal.
According to a GoFundMe organized by Lisa Martin on behalf of the family, the fire destroyed all of Donnie and Kory’s Clydesdale show equipment, including “their carriages, harnesses, tack, and trailer.”
The fundraiser describes the loss as “devastating” for a family who has “devoted their lives to showing Clydesdales,” spending years at “local fairs, state fairs, and community events.”
Martin wrote that the couple’s 12-year-old son, Avery, who had recently begun showing horses "and proudly following in (his parents') footsteps,” also lost all of his equipment.
Their 4-year-old daughter, Autumn, lost her goats, pig, and chicks — animals she helped care for every day.
Donnie Lentzner and his family
Tragedy hit just months after Donnie had purchased the farm, making the destruction even harder for the family. Martin noted that Donnie has spent his “entire life working in the horse industry as a farrier,” helping other families care for their animals while building a life for his own.
The broader equestrian community felt the loss immediately.
“This is more than a financial loss — it’s years of hard work, memories, passion, and purpose gone in an instant,” cousin Meghan Fry wrote in a public post. She said she was “beyond grateful” that all of the horses were saved but described the setback as “heartbreaking.”
Gloria Mikolajczyk, who once boarded a horse with Kory and knew the family through Donnie’s farrier work, called them “wonderful horse people” and urged friends to help. “Thankfully, no horses or people were lost,” she wrote, adding that they “did lose some small animals, chickens and goats, etc. They lost all their carriages, show equipment, etc.”
Martin echoed that sentiment in another post on Thanksgiving, writing that she was “very thankful Donnie & Kory were not home when this fire started,” noting that she feared they “would have tried to save the animals” and put their own lives at risk.
Now, as investigators continue to work through the ashes, the Lentzner family is facing the long, emotional task of rebuilding their barn, replacing critical equipment, and caring for the animals that remain.
The fundraiser for the family can be found here.
“Any donation, no matter the size, will make a meaningful difference.”
Daily Kos