When a wildfire ripped through Boulder, Colorado, no one knew quite how bad it was going to be. Travis Ochs lives on a ranch at the edge of Geer Canyon Drive in Boulder, and has experienced fires before – but never quite like this one.
After receiving an urgent call to evacuate his property, Travis drove his mom and his sister to safety, before heading back to the ranch to shut off the ranch and rescue as many animals as he possibly could.
Adam, the draft horse, and Ennis, the donkey were among some that Travis was attempting to rescue. The pair were best friends and had grown up together in the ranch after being adopted only six months apart.
After 14 years of living on the ranch, Travis was incredibly fond of the two buddies. So when the fire raged, he was determined to get them out safely. But the fire wasn’t going to make things easy.
“I started up and there was kind of a dark smoke, and right in front of me this tree, a three-story pine tree, was completely on fire,” Travis said. “I had no idea the fire was that close. I turned around immediately. There were big chunks of burning wood falling all over the road.”
Jason Vroman, a Senior Ranger with Boulder County Parks and Open Space was patrolling near Broomfield at the time evacuations were ordered. His job was now to pull people out of the Heil Valley Ranch area, and that’s how he came across Travis.
Travis was leading Ennis, Adam, and four other horses toward two horse trailers, neither of which had yet been attached to a truck.
“They started hooking up the horse trailer and I said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa; we gotta go,” Jason told CBS Denver. “The fire was coming so quickly, I was concerned it would cut off our escape route.”
Travis and his sister had miscalculated the fire and thought they had more time, with Travis recalling, “We didn’t realize just how big the fire was.”
Through the guidance of Jason, they began to lead the horses and donkey through the smoke towards safety. Most of the horses fit in a trailer, but there was no room for Adam and Ennis. So Travis decided to manually walk the two buddies – a decision that would drastically slow down the whole process.
As the smoke got worse, Jason politely asked Travis if he’d like to let Adam and Ennis go, but Travis couldn’t bear to part with the two. But as they began to notice spot fires ahead of them, Jason had to change his tone.
“That was my trigger point,” Jason said. “I advised Travis, ‘We need to get out, let the horses go, and get in the truck.’ My voice changed. I wasn’t as nice as before. I added a few expletives.”
So with a broken heart, Travis left Adam and Ennis behind. It was an extremely difficult decision, and Travis knew that it was highly likely that the pair would die together.
Travis, his sister, Jason, and the trailer full of horses made it safely away from the area, and it was a long wait until the next day when the ranch could be searched. It was presumed that the horse and the donkey would be dead, but when authorities arrived at the property the next day, they made a shocking discovery.
The entirety of the ranch had burned down – apart from a tiny, half-acre of land. In the blackened grass stood Adam and Ennis, both a little singed and hungry, but otherwise in excellent condition.
Travis was absolutely over the moon to hear about the discovery and went straight away to collect his animals. No one will ever know how they survived, but Travis thinks that they helped each other.
“Yes, they were very glad to see me. They were thrilled,” Travis concluded.
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