FRANKTOWN, Colo. — The community is calling Eddie Soto Sanchez a hero after he saved four horses from a fire in Douglas County. Still, he said he can't help but think about the 10 horses he couldn't rescue.
"My emotions just get all over the place,” said Soto Sanchez. “This is what's going to be difficult for me, you know, sitting there and remembering all of this."
The stables at Hidden Pines Farm in Franktown caught fire early Monday morning, with 14 horses trapped in their stalls.
“Physically I feel good,” said Soto Sanchez. “Mentally I'm destroyed."
Soto Sanchez is the property manager at Hidden Pines Farm. His home overlooks the horse stables. He said he was in a deep sleep Monday when his phone started ringing. It was his boss, telling him the fire alarm was going off in the stables.
“I ran to the barn, opened the doors, ran in and it’s dark,” said Soto Sanchez. “A hot cloud of smoke just rushed out and then I realized it's a fire."
Without hesitation, Soto Sanchez jumped into action, burning his hands as he rushed to open the stall doors. He managed to get four horses out before firefighters pulled him away from the burning building.
Soto Sanchez said he could hear a nearby horse kicking and screaming. He refused to stop what he was doing, knowing there were more horses that needed to be rescued.
“I managed to pull away from the fire guy and went around to the other side of the barn, still trying to get my old friend Dave,” said Soto Sanchez. “He was an older, retired horse. But once I opened the door, he didn’t come out.”
Soto Sanchez said he will never forget that horrific moment.
“I called his name, and he just wouldn't answer it,” he said crying. “At that point they told me there's nothing you can do. I kept yelling at them that there were still horses in there."
The flames were too much. As firefighters worked to put out the blaze, Soto Sanchez was forced to sit back and watch. Paramedics eventually took him to the hospital to treat his burns and check his lungs for smoke inhalation.
Soto Sanchez was discharged from a hospital a few hours later. The first thing he did was go back to the stables to check on the horses. That’s when he learned 10 of them died in the fire.
“I keep thinking what I could have done differently to make sure that I saved more horses than I did,” said Soto Sanchez with tears in his eyes. “I keep going back to Dave's stall. I see him there, and I'm like, 'Buddy, I tried, and you know that I tried.’ It just makes me feel like I didn't do enough."
Investigators are still trying to figure out the cause of the fire. As for the four horses who are alive because of Soto Sanchez, they’re doing well. He said two are still at the animal hospital, while the other two are now at a horse park.
Click here to support Soto Sanchez and his family.
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