Barbie Rae Steinheimer was close to completing her dream Park County, Wyoming, farm where she breeds and raises quarter horses for working cattle.
Then 70 mph winds blew through the state March 12 also fanned the flames of a fire that sparked on her ranch, turning her dream into a nightmare that she is still trying to process as she looks to the future.
The 58-year-old Powell area resident said she was in her house about 2:30 p.m. after being in the barn cleaning her horse stalls.
She was planning transportation for one her 18 horses to Texas for breeding when a friend banged on her window.
“My neighbor was cleaning her chicken coop, and she could see my barn right there,” Steinheimer said. “She came cover and hammered on my glass window: 'Barbie your hay is on fire and it’s getting to your barn.'”
When she and her neighbor went into the attached barn, what she described as “pinkish-red smoke” smoke hung in the air, but she saw no flames.
Steinheimer said she went around opening the stalls of her horses, which started circling around her. Her neighbor later told her that the horses were rearing up, but Steinheimer doesn't recall that.
She called 911.
Steinheimer went to an area outside the barn to see flames coming out of the hay that was next to her indoor arena and foaling stalls, and ran back to open the main barn door to give her horses an avenue of escape.
A second neighbor arrived, and with their help they herded all the horses into her mare pasture as the flaming hay torched the barn.
Although the fire — fanned by those strong winds — would destroy the barn and her house, Steinheimer said she believes “an angel carried me” through the experience.
Her neighbor later asked Steinheimer about her lungs and whether the smoke affected them as it did hers. Steinheimer said she never really smelled the smoke.
Barbie Rae Steinheimer works with one of her quarter horses. (Courtesy Barbie Rae Steinheimer) 
Powell Fire Department firefighters arrived to find Barbie Rae Steinheimer’s barn and home being swept by flames under high winds. (Courtesy Barbie Rae Steinheimer) 
High winds sent flaming hay into a Powell-area barn and attached home that resulted in a total loss for the owner, Barbara Rae Steinheimer. (Courtesy GoFundMe) 
The scene at Barbie Rae Steinheimer’s property following her fire. (Courtesy Jamie Blankenship)
Saving Knock
What Steinheimer does know for sure is that her neighbor saved her life and her horses.
“If it wasn’t for her knocking on my glass front door, my horses would have been dead,” she said.
Park County Fire District No. 1 Administrator Charlie Ziska said that when the Powell Fire Department arrived at the home, the wind-driven flames were well into the the pole barn structure and attached house.
“Being big, open structures with the wind blowing as hard as it was, it was difficult to catch it,” he said. “It burned pretty hot and pretty fast.”
About 25 firefighters fought the blaze that left the barn area a total loss and the living quarters heavily damaged by smoke and water, he said.
Steinheimer said firefighters told her that the hay likely got hot and ignited through spontaneous combustion.
There had been snow on it earlier in the week that introduced moisture. When hay gets wet, there is a chemical reaction caused by microbes that can cause flames to ignite.
Also a life coach and mental health professional, Steinheimer has used her horses and ranch setting to help autistic young adults, but lost almost everything that day.
She said all the tack in the barn, including prized saddles, and a lot of furniture she had stored there all burned.
“My place has always been a healing land for individuals, and my horses are part of it,” Steinheimer said.
In her living area, her great-grandmother’s 125-year-old table was carried out from under debris by a friend and contractor helping clean up the property as he removed the burned structures.
She hopes to have the table restored along with a couple of chairs that were salvaged.
A Belt Buckle
The same friend found a prized silver belt buckle that she earned for showing horses in California buried under debris in her closet as well as two framed 8-by-10-inch treasures.
“He found two of my pictures where my grandma and great-grandma had done (with) embroidery stitching,” she said. “They survived through the fire.”
The fire heated a safe in her living quarters so hot that jewels in a valuable heirloom ring were darkened, and a jeweler is working to restore them, she said.
Her faith has been a big part of helping her get through the experience, Steinheimer said. There are times she just breaks down and cries.
“I am still in shock,” she said. “I’ve had days and days where I have been in and out. I cried at the bank.”
Steinheimer said she had designed the barn and remodeled the living quarters which she moved into in 2020.
The barn had a lab for the breeding part of her horse business, as well as a tack room, wash rack, stalls and the indoor arena.
She was finalizing an area inside the arena that would allow her to work training horses using a mechanical cow.
Another area not yet complete was set to be a glassed office area that would allow customers to watch as she works the horses.
Chandeliers were set to be installed in the barn.
Her home had real wood flooring, cabinets she installed, a pantry she built herself and a cozy “farmhouse” atmosphere that included antiques where friends would visit and she would do life coaching.
“My house was very relaxing,” she said. “It was perfect.”
Steinheimer is working with her insurance company to try and rebuild what she lost. Demolition of the barn and home is nearly complete.
“I call it my ‘land’ now,” she said.
A photo of the stall area in Barbie Rae Steinheimer’s barn that was destroyed on March 12. (Courtesy Barbie Rae Steinheimer) Powell Fire Department firefighters arrived to find Barbie Rae Steinheimer’s barn and home being swept by flames under high winds. (Courtesy Barbie Rae Steinheimer) 
The March 12 Powell fire at Barbie Rae Steinheimer’s house left little of her possessions. (Courtesy Barbie Rae Steinheimer) 
One of Barbie Rae Steinheimer’s horses inside her barn’s indoor riding area. One of Barbie Rae Steinheimer’s horses with a list of her bloodlines that were on her barn stairs in the background. (Courtesy Barbie Rae Steinheimer) 
Barbara Rae Steinheimer is thankful for a neighbor’s knock that allowed her to save this Grullo 100 stud horse. (Courtesy Barbie Rae Steinheimer)
The Future
Steinheimer is hoping that insurance will help restore a little cabin that is on the property so it can be turned into her temporary home, allowing her to be with her beloved horses.
The building now has no water, heat, plumbing and is not finished inside.
In the meaintime, she’s staying at a hotel.
A GoFundMe has been set up by a friend to raise money for a “mare motel” and needed panels, gates and fencing for stalls that were lost in the fire.
A fund in her name also has been established at First Bank of Wyoming in Powell.
Steinheimer said insurance does not cover those needs as she heads into the breeding and foaling season. Her mares are set to foal in late April and early May.
She is thankful for all the support she has received from the Powell community. A woman recently stopped by and told her that she had “tons of tack” to replace all the items she lost.
A native of Bakersfield, California, Steinheimer moved to Wyoming in 2006 and said she has worked with horses all of her life.
She said she's “cowboyed” in California, New Mexico, and Wyoming and is praying about the next steps and the plans God has for her.
Thursday night was her first full night of sleep since the fire after another day when it was just hard to understand her new reality, she said.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
