Sean and Jackie Lambert drove down their driveway early Tuesday morning and were ready to head to work when they spotted a glowing red light in their neighbors’ yard — on top of a horse barnyard.
“We saw the barn was on fire, and after we woke up the family that owns the barn, we went and started getting horses out of there,” Sean Lambert said. “Unfortunately, there were two that we couldn’t get to in time.”
The Los Angeles County Fire Department received a call for a structure fire on the 23000 block of Wildwood Canyon Road in Newhall at approximately 4:41 a.m., according to Kaitlyn Aldana, spokeswoman for the Fire Department.
Aldana confirmed firefighters arrived on the scene to a “working fire.” The owners of the property and others were trying to get the horses to safety and extinguish the fire as best as they could. Two horses died in the blaze, she added.
Firefighters called knockdown of the fire at approximately 4:54 a.m., Aldana said.
According to Lambert, he and his wife didn’t want anything to happen to the horses, so they acted quickly.
The horses were nervous as the fire spread onto the roof and around the barn, burning rubber mats on the outside stalls, he added. Luckily, the roof wasn’t in danger of caving in.
“I was busy trying to get horses out of the barn, but because of the fire some of the horses stuck their heads out the windows for fresh air,” Lambert said. “My wife is the one that undid all the stalls. The horses wouldn’t leave the stalls by themselves and we actually had to put ropes around them and actually pull them out.”
The family saved horses, too, Lambert said. They got horses out and they also gathered them in a specific area, so the horses wouldn’t run around the canyon.
Lambert said they released between eight to 12 horses, but couldn’t confirm how many horses were in the barn because everything happened so fast.
“Whoever owns those two horses, I’m sure those people are hurting really bad today,” Lambert said. “I just wish we could have saved them all.”
After the fire was out and the incident over, Lambert and his wife went to work at their jobs in the film industry.
Lambert said he’s a driver, and though it was cold at work when he got there, he had so much adrenaline going through his body that he couldn’t wear his jacket.
The family and owners of the property did not want to comment on the incident and asked for privacy as they mourn the loss of their two horses.
