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A New Year’s Eve fire north of Cortez claimed the barn of Lisa and Darrell Buchanan, but their 30 chickens and their horse, Pops, are safe thanks to passersby who opened a gate for the mare and smashed the chicken coop to free the fowl.

“Someone, a good Samaritan, I don’t know who it was, let the horse out and kicked in the chicken coop. They didn’t have to stop, but they did, and we’re so grateful,” said Lisa Buchanan.

The 36-foot by 50-foot barn, at 26455 County Road N, and its contents, however, were destroyed.

Buchanan said contents included tack, 100 bales of hay, an antique table made in 1887 along with the old farmhouse, tools, lumber, chicken feed, two show saddles and five other saddles among other items.

The cause of the fire is undetermined, but right now the strongest suspicion is an electrical fire that started in the southeast corner of the barn, said Cortez Fire Protection District Fire Chief Jay Balfour, who was on scene.

“There’s so much damage we may never be able to say 100% what the cause was,” he said.

Buchanan had just left the house at 1:30 p.m. to go to visit her sister in Cortez. She got a call around 2:30 p.m. from Shacee Decker, the girlfriend of her son, Kyle Buchanan, alerting her that the barn was on fire.

“It must have started between 1:30 and 2 (p.m.). I left the house at 1:30 and everything was fine. No smoke, nothing,” Buchanan said.

The home’s Wi-Fi was also knocked out because the server was located in the barn.

Pops was found about 1½ hours after she was freed from her stall wandering north of the barn.

“She’s fine, not a mark, not a singe on her, just scared out of her mind,” Buchanan said.

Balfour said 20 firefighters battled the blaze and two engines and two tenders were called to the scene.

Firefighters came from the Cortez Fire Protection District, the Dolores Fire Protection District and the Lewis-Arriola Volunteer Fire Department.

“No lives were lost. That’s the main thing. Everything is going to be good,” Buchanan said.

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