Investigators are trying to figure out what sparked a barn fire in southeast Oklahoma that killed 43 horses. Eddie Willis and his family for years have trained and raced quarter horses in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico.

His wife, Donna, said she awoke Saturday night to the cracking sounds from a fire and the kicking of horses at their ranch in Atoka County near Caney.

She and her sons tried to free dozens of horses, but the barn went up in flames.

Several animals survived.

Caney Fire Department officials are looking at whether a heater in a back office of the barn sparked the fire.

Eddie Willis, who wasn't home at the time of the fire, says he can't remember a time when he didn't own a horse.

The dead animals have been buried at the Willis ranch.