MONMOUTH -- Wednesday morning's spate of wet, heavy snow followed by an afternoon of freezing rain did not weigh down only trees and power lines.

Two horses were trapped Wednesday night beneath a barn that collapsed under the weight of the winter mixture. The horses were reported to be in stable condition Thursday.

Monmouth firefighters who responded to the scene stacked airlifting bags and inflated them to elevate the collapsed structure enough -- about eight inches of height per bag -- to free the horses. They later used chain saws to break up the wreckage and the horse owner's tractor to remove it.

"One of the horses had all the weight of the building on him," Monmouth Fire Chief Andre Poulin said.

Once free from the collapsed barn, the horses' owner worked to help the animals to stand and transported them to Monmouth's Annabessacook Veterinary Clinic, Poulin said.

The owner and family members declined requests for comment.

Monmouth firefighters received the call about the trapped horses at the Painter Road barn at about 6:30 Wednesday evening. The half of the structure containing the horses had collapsed.

"It pancaked onto the horses," Poulin said. "We stabilized the good portion of the building."

Monmouth's Fire Department had obtained the airlifting bags with funds from a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant in 2005, Poulin said.

For many of the town's firefighters, this animal rescue was their first.

"We don't deal with live animals like that very often," Poulin said.

Firefighter Jason Mills said special skills from rescue training exercises came into play Wednesday night.

"The first time we used them. It went together really slick," he said.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com