The first responders immediately called in to report their findings and ask for more help. “Chief, this fire could burn all the way to Wyoming at the rate it’s going. We need everything we can get on it. We need air support as soon as possible. We’re going to need ground crews too. There are a number of properties on the west side of the highway that need to be evacuated and there’s a pretty large development about six or seven miles north of ground zero on the east side of the highway we need to lay in structure protection for. With the way this fire is crowning, it won’t take long before it crosses the highway and begins to burn on the east side too. This has all the earmarks of a major rager!”
The first crew at the burned out construction site spotted the incendiary device locations on the cottonwood trees. This fire was intentionally set! They cordoned off the area with yellow tape to keep everyone out until the arson investigators got there. One of them called in his report on the probable arson so the Fire Chief could get investigators on board right away.
Planes rushed off runways and lumbered skyward hauling thousands of pounds of water and fire retardant. Helicopters pulled giant buckets of water under their bellies as well. After reports from the air, the Fire Chief added crews with bulldozers to build and expand fire breaks ahead of the fire. The dozers plowed down everything in their path, including 40 and 50 feet tall trees. They widened the firebreaks already in the forest because of the wind blowing the fire from crown to crown among the tallest trees. Ground crew with shovels and pickaxes worked alongside the dozers leaving bare earth in wide swatches that would give the fire nothing to burn.
The Highway Patrol personnel went from property to property north of the fire calling for mandatory evacuations of properties in its path. Evacuees took what they could and rushed out on the highway southward toward Boulder. Horse and Livestock trailers began turning in to Cold Water Creek Ranch looking for sanctuary for their horses and livestock because it was the closest place in a safety zone. Many people needed to make multiple trips. Everyone at the ranch pitched in with evacuated stock. They set up extra water, feed, and helped reassure the owners they’d watch over their animals. In one way the evacuations helped the Cold Water Creek Ranch crew more than anything else. It gave them something immediate and physical to do while they waited for word about their kids. They weren’t just sitting around and worrying.
Chris and Sharon directed everyone, told where the extra water buckets and feed buckets were kept, where to put the newcomers and where to park trailers so others had room to maneuver coming and going. It was a madhouse for a while. It didn’t take long to fill every vacant barn stall. They used turnouts, round pens, outdoor arenas and the covered arena for horses. They had several six-foot welded wire enclosures for stallions that worked for goats and dogs. Evacuated owners stayed to make sure their animals were settled in before leaving for town and sanctuary for themselves. The women from Cold Water Creek Ranch kept coffee, ice tea and bottles of water at the ready for visitors.
When the fire crossed the highway and began burning on both sides, few people traveled the highway south to Boulder. Many were forced to drive north toward Wyoming for safety. Soon the only vehicles passing Cold Water Creek Ranch were fire vehicles with flashing lights.
The Fire Chief, Don Odom, stopped and asked if he could use a portion of the property for his Command and Control unit. He and his assistants needed to be close to the action not twenty miles away in Boulder. Don knew Chris and Sharon O’Neal personally. His daughter had the riding bug and took lessons from Chris for years. They boarded her horse with the O’Neal’s. When she went off to college, his wife took care of her horse and started taking lessons herself. The Odoms were at the ranch frequently. Chris and Sharon had no problem hosting the Fire Chief. Chris helped spot the large RV close to the highway and showed the fire people where they could park their other vehicles.
Things at Cold Water Creek Ranch got even crazier when the Fire Crews inhabited part of the ranch. It gave the women more to do. They kept up a non-stop running stream of hot coffee for the crews working until they were exhausted. The coffee helped keep their adrenaline levels high for the task at hand.
Cell towers alongside the highway burned as easily as 50-foot trees. Radios on units needed to ping off the towers to maintain communications with central command. Radios lost their effectiveness when the towers burned so they all turned to satellite phone technology. Communications become a complicated mess when smoke from the fire affected even that.
The ranch just south of Cold Water Creek Ranch became the central point for ground and engine crews to swap out exhausted men and pick up additional equipment. Pop-up shelters went up in rows to provide shade for men taking breaks from the action and for those waiting their turn fighting the beast. Portable grills turned out high-quality protein meals for hungry firefighters.
Chief Odom sent engine crews to the large development north of the fire for structure protection. Those men and women would stand with their backs to homes of people they didn’t know using high-pressure water hoses to keep the flames from burning them down. The inhabitants fled north with what little they could carry leaving unnamed men behind to protect their homes and their dreams.
Fire crews stopped at properties on the west side of the highway and attempted to keep the flames from the homes there. For some they were successful, for others they arrived too late. When they arrived at Hilda Jorgensen’s ranch, the barn was completely engulfed. There was no saving it. Two of the storage sheds on the property were also too far gone to save. They made a herculean effort to save her home. Once the burning embers found a place to burn on the underside of the eaves, there was no saving it. They doused the home for as long as they could safely, then had to turn tail and run to save their own lives. Several of the fighters shed tears as they drove away. They hated to lose.
Each section of forest and each home the firefighters worked to save was personal to them. Every home lost became a symbol of their own home and they felt the loss almost as deeply as they would have if it had been their own. They gave up when the only option was their own death as a sacrifice for it. They had to live so they could continue the fight.
The fight went on hour after hour, tree by tree, acre by acre through the night. The winds slowed down after sundown, but the fire refused to lie down. The crowning, or treetop to treetop spread, continued for miles, jumping over fire retardant paths and fanning out in new directions to the north, west, and east as dry fuel maintained it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The wind pushed the flames from the construction site northward. It ate everything combustible in its path. The dryness caused by the drought made things a lot worse. Dry piles of leaves and shrubs exploded in flames the minute embers landed in them.
The kids and horses were only a half mile north of the construction site when the blaze broke out. At first, they had no idea there was trouble behind them. The first few drifts of smoke in the air were chalked off to someone’s barbecue. There were a few nice homes close to the road west of them. All too soon the smoke and ash began to over-power them. The kids and the horses were choking on the smoke. Other forest animals began to flee the area. The sound of the fire behind them began to roar like a freight train, scaring them even more. Sounds of toppling trees crashing down didn’t help either. Ash and embers rained down on them, stinging their skin and the horses. The smoke was so thick they could hardly see and their eyes began tearing and burning.
Tears streamed from Desperado’s eyes, ran down his muzzle and dripped to the ground as he picked his way through the forest. His vision blurred by his tears and the smoke and ash in the air. His heart pounded with an adrenalin rush. He must keep moving forward if he was to get the others to safety. Other forest creatures rushing away from the inferno behind them streaked between his legs nearly tripping him at times. He ignored them as they ignored him. They were in full flight mode.
The kids were startled when a large cougar streaked by them
. Hot on her heels were her two young kittens the size of 50-pound dogs. They saw and ignored bunnies, squirrels, and ground rodents but glanced fearfully when the larger animals came bounding by. One buck mule deer with a large rack bounced ahead of them and ran smack into a tree. The impact stunned the deer and he fell to the ground. The kids watched in surprise as he lifted his head and shook himself. He jumped up and bounded onward like a kangaroo jumping over low bushes and shrubs. They were fearful when the black bear and her squalling cub ran by them within two feet of the horses’ legs. She completely ignored them. They were amazed at how fast she traveled for her bulky size. She slowed a bit to let her cub catch up before disappearing into the haze.
Desperado made a sudden turn to the east, almost unseating Todd. Todd had given up trying to guide Desperado but picked the reins up to turn him north again when he realized where Desperado was going. Todd hung onto the saddle horn with one hand to steady himself and he signaled the others about the turn.
Desperado was going to the Jorgenson farm. He knew this area like the front of his hoof. He’d been born here six years ago. Jan and Hilda Jorgenson lived on this property for forty years breeding Arabian horses. Desperado was the last one they bred before Jan passed away. He was over eighty when he died. Desperado was the finest horse they’d ever bred. He did have some interesting quirks that drove Jan crazy at times. He was a notorious escape artist.
Desperado loved to explore the territory around the farm. Fortunately, that experience would help him now.
Desperado heard Hilda’s children discussing the sale of him and his mother to Henry Babcock, the bunny-kicker man, on their infrequent visits to the barn with Hilda in the past few months. They only talked about it when Hilda was not close enough to hear them. They were waiting until Hilda passed away or got sick enough for them to put her in a place they called a “rest home,” whatever that was. He didn’t want to be sold to the bunny-kicker man. He’d seen the rage on the man’s face through the windshield of the car after he’d kicked it. He didn’t like the bunny-kicker man at all and the thought of being sold to him and giving him a position of power over Indent for new paragraph frightened him. But Desperado also truly loved Hilda and would do anything to protect her.
Desperado led the other eight horses straight to Hilda’s back door. Todd jumped out of the saddle and stood banging furiously on the door. Hilda was in her living room with her back to the window so she didn’t notice the light dim because of the smoke. Hilda dropped the book she was reading and hurried through the kitchen to the back door before she saw and smelled the smoke in the air.
When she opened the door, Todd said, “Come on Hilda, we’ve got to go! I’ll give you a boost up on Desperado and ride behind you. Do you think you can hang on?”
Hilda took one look to the south and grabbed the doorframe for support in her shock. She held on for a second, then let go and looked into Todd’s pleading face. “Yes, give me a hand up. I can hold on just fine. Let’s get out of here! Please stop by the barn so we can let Desperado’s mother out.”
Todd boosted Hilda into the saddle and scrambled on the back. Before he had a chance to pick up the reins, Desperado turned and led the group through the front entrance of the breezeway barn. Brody jumped down and handed his reins to Becky while he unlatched the stall door for Annabella, Desperado’s mother. She was beside herself at that moment, locked in the barn smelling the smoke. She was terrified and wanted to run.
Desperado squealed to her “Mom, stay with us. Follow me. I know a place to go where we will be safe, but we have to hurry!” He headed back into the forest in a northwesterly direction. He screamed over his shoulder to Prince Ali, “Ali please stay at the rear and keep the rest of the horses bunched together. I know a safe place. Follow me!”
Todd held Hilda with one hand and the saddle horn with the other. When Hilda looked south from her back door, she could see the flames were on both sides of the highway and the head of the fire wasn’t too far south of them. They had to move or burn and they couldn’t go east or south. She covered her nose with the loose sweater she was wearing and closed her eyes.
All ten horses picked their way through the forest quickly as they tried to stay in clear areas. The only one of the group who’d ever jumped a horse was Heidi. She and Schultzy had never jumped more than 2’6” and some of the obstacles in the forest were higher. She didn’t want to try jumping in these conditions anyway. Prince Ali took up the drag position at the back of the group to keep stragglers moving. He tucked his tail to keep the embers from stinging his behind. Charlie, Becky, and Todd were the only ones who’d ridden in the area before. Charlie stayed in the middle to help the kids from California who were completely out of their element and scared to death. The girls pulled their tee-shirts up over their noses to help themselves breathe through the smoke and ash. The boys resorted to their tee-shirts too. The exertion caused the horses to cough and gag as the smoke enveloped them all.
About three miles northwest of Hilda’s ranch, Desperado made a sudden turn west. He continued moving in that direction for quite a while. The air became clearer the farther west they traveled. He found the deer trail he was looking for. One of the mountains got closer and closer as the group picked their way along the tiny trail. He led the group to the bottom of a tall flat faced cliff and paralleled the rock wall a short distance. Desperado suddenly turned into the rock wall and walked through an opening you wouldn’t have seen if you weren’t right on it. It was offset and slanted and several yards deep. Desperado led the group through the mouth of a canyon. The canyon widened out several yards from the opening. It was about a mile deep, about a quarter mile wide at most and sloped upward a hundred and fifty feet or more. Sometime in the past, a tremor loosened rock along the ridgeline. Rocks tumbled down into the canyon taking all the brush and trees that grew on the sides of the canyon to the bottom and buried them. Jagged walls with rock piles at the bottom were all that was left behind. There was nothing left to burn except for the grass that grew around the edges of a pool at the apex. Near the top of the canyon was a natural spring. The rockfall opened the spring. Water slowly tumbled down the rocks and into a slight depression in the ground at the apex of the canyon. It formed a pool of clear water about four feet deep.
The air inside the canyon was clear. The smoke passed by the opening and the mountain blocked it from this isolated little space. Once the group reached the pool, everyone dismounted and let the horses have a much-needed drink. They stood around numbed by the experience. Everyone checked their horses and Annabella, Desperado’s mother. The kids were relieved when the horses’ eyes stopped tearing and they stopped coughing. About every half an hour one of them walked back to the rocky opening and looked out to see what they could of the forest beyond. For a while, all they could see was smoke and ash in the distance. After a couple of hours, they could see the fire coming in their direction. Fortunately, there was no brush to burn near the opening of the canyon. The fire turned north and found more fuel before burning around them to the west.
Only three of the kids still had their cell phones. The others were lost in the rush to get away from the fire. They tried to get a signal on the phones but couldn’t. There was no signal in this remote location. There was no way to call anyone and let them know they were okay. There was no way they could call and let anyone know where they were. Hours dragged on. As the sun dropped on the horizon, the kids went through their packs and found a couple of packages of crackers and a couple of bags of chips. There was nothing else to eat. Hilda pulled out a scarf and put all the food on it so it could be divided up among the ten people stranded. They ate a meager meal, drank some of the spring water from the pond with their hands as cups and waited. The temperature in the canyon dropped when the sun set. The kids wore only shorts or jeans and tee-shirts. That day started out sunny and seventy-eight degrees. They lay in the grass beside the pond and huddled together shivering, using the nine saddle pads for cover. They hoped for rescue i
n the morning. All ten spent a terrible night in complete darkness on the cold rocky ground.
CHAPTER EIGHT
As dawn broke the next morning a large male cougar crept through the entrance to the canyon on scorched pads. He’d smelled water. Once inside the canyon, he smelled something else more inviting. He kept to the wall and stalked toward the horses. They were large but he’d downed a bull elk before and knew one of them would feed him for more than a week.
Desperado spotted the large cat. He nosed Prince Ali awake.
“Take a look over there, will you,” he said to Ali.
Ali’s heart began to thump in his chest. “I had one of those jump on me before. They have big teeth and long claws. I have the scars to prove it too. I think he’s looking to eat one of us.
“How about we teach him a lesson,” Desperado said under his breath. He just couldn’t let that cat harm Hilda, Todd or any of the others. He’d thought about it before waking Ali.
“What did you have in mind?” Ali asked nervously.
“He can’t catch two of us at the same time. I think we need to charge him. I’ll bet he runs away if he thinks we are going to stomp him with our feet,” Desperado suggested while his eyes never left the cat.
“Let’s ignore him so he doesn’t know we know he’s there. We should give him time to get closer. We need to keep the others quiet,” Ali said. “You keep an eye on him and I’ll let the other horses know what we’re doing. The kids are sleeping. I hope they stay that way for a little while.”
Desperado Page 4