Couple rebuilding barn for rescued horses
Dec. 30—Yvonne and Warren Williams fled from their Davidson Mesa home minutes after seeing flames from the Marshall Fire on their 1-acre property.
"You look out your window, and fire is coming out at you," Yvonne Williams said.
As the flames advanced, she tried to open the paddock to give their their beloved Peruvian Paso horses, Cando and Cango, a chance to escape. But with heat from the fire blistering her face and singeing her hair, she was forced to leave them there.
She was convinced the horses had perished in the fast moving fire, only for a woman to call her at 1:30 a.m. while they slept in a hotel room to tell Williams that she had them.
The woman, Stefanee Whitney, and three of her friends had responded to social media requests for help with large animals, bringing a trailer from Castle Rock. As they drove around the perimeter of the still active fire, they found the two horses huddled together on the Williamses' property. The nearby barn was reduced to rubble.
"They drove 60 miles to save two horses," Warren Williams said. "It was a miracle they found them."
The couple met up with the rescuers over the summer to thank them in person by taking them to dinner. Though injured, both horses have recovered, other than some spots where their coat didn't grow back. The horses, a rare breed known for a parallel gait that creates a smooth ride, are more than just companion animals. They're especially valuable because they help Yvonne Williams manage chronic back pain.
After the fire, the couple initially boarded the pair on a friend's ranch near Erie. After about a month, a friend of a friend offered them stalls on a property about a mile from their home.
While the Williamses' barn and storage shed burned, firefighters saved their house. They said the privacy walls around their patio caught fire, then the back wall of the house before firefighters who were working in the area doused it.
Once the smoke damage was remediated and the back wall repaired, they moved back into their home in August. Now, they're working on rebuilding their pole barn so they can bring back their horses. They got a permit for the barn about four months ago, but it took time to find a contractor and the needed materials — poles in the correct size are scarce, so they bought much larger ones and cut them down to size.
Though they said they were luckier than many to have a house still standing, the one-year anniversary is still difficult.
Yvonne Williams said she started thinking about getting a Christmas tree the week before Thanksgiving, but it reminded her of the Christmas lights still clinging to burned trees in the neighborhood. While some neighbors are rebuilding or sold lots and moved away, they said, it's also hard to see others who were underinsured and feel stuck.
"It's almost been a year and some of the people here haven't been able to do anything," Warren Williams said. "That just feels sad to me. There are still so many people who need help."
What's been healing, they said, is focusing on all those who helped — from the strangers who saved their horses to a church group that rebuilt their burned fences to a 4H group in Castle Rock that held a fundraiser to replace their saddles.
"It's such a beautiful thing to see when you're down and out and people come to help you," Yvonne Williams said. "So many people have helped, and it has made all the difference. Without all this help, we would still be living in a hotel."
About this series
This week marked the one-year anniversary of the Marshall Fire, the most destructive in state history. Concluding Saturday, we have been telling the stories of people who lived through this unimaginable disaster, Coloradans for whom its memories remain vivid.
