When Maggie Poloncic saw some alarming posts about a wildfire west of her hometown of Gillette, Wyoming, on Aug. 27, 2024, she got nervous. Maggie lives inside the city limits, where she works as a dance instructor, but her parents John and Missy keep her barrel horses, broodmares and babies at their place west of town, just south of Interstate 90.

“We knew a fire had started, but we didn’t see much smoke,” Poloncic recalled. “Social media was really the only way people were getting updates about how serious it was and how fast it was spreading. When I saw our place was under a pre-evacuation order late that night, I called my dad who doesn’t use social media. He said, ‘Let me step outside.’ And then he said, ‘Maggie, there’s ash in the air! We need to move these horses!’”

“These horses”

Poloncic has made a splash over the past few years aboard her stellar mares, 12-year-old Ain’t Seen Me Yet and Ain’t Seen Her Yet, 8. She’s qualified aboard them for four different Montana Circuit Finals Rodeos and won a silver medal in 2019 at the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games in Salt Lake City.

The mares (out of a granddaughter of Merridoc with Appendix blood and a granddaughter of The Signature) are by Ain’t Seen Nothin Yet, the stallion that also sired a pair of recent NFR horses. Summer Kosel’s Apollo broke the arena record at Cheyenne, and Lisa Lockhart’s Levee is gaining on a million dollars in lifetime earnings. Ain’t Seen Nothin Yet is by Frenchmans Guy out of a Dash Ta Fame/Streakin Six mare.

“I have seven sons and daughters of Ain’t See Nothin Yet,” admitted Poloncic, whose good mare has earned a half-million dollars on the cloverleaf. “I just kind of collect them!”

One of her youngsters out of a Dash For Perks mare will go to futurities next year. Another is a derby horse. And she’s got three more under 2 years old.

On that dark night, the entire roster looked about to be engulfed by a raging wildfire.

A perfect storm

“Dad and I were on the phone for 10 minutes trying to figure out what to do, because we have recip mares, broodmares and babies that aren’t halter-broke,” Poloncic explained.

She borrowed an extra trailer and the family worked until 3 a.m. to transport every mama and baby to the east side of town. At the barn, her barrel horses were prepared and ready to load. She waited with bated breath. There was no news for nearly 11 hours because four additional wildfires had broken out in northern Wyoming during that time and crews were too scattered and exhausted for regular updates.

A wet 2023 and rainy spring had grown lots of grass in northern Wyoming, which then dried to a crisp thanks to a sweltering July, leaving the area a tinderbox. All it took was a dry lightning storm toward the end of the month followed by three days of wind gusts to start four fires that would scorch a staggering half-million acres of Wyoming land. The Flat Rock Fire, closest to Poloncic’s horses, would burn 52,000 acres before it was contained.

“Thankfully the wind changed by 5 a.m. and blew the fire back over itself,” Poloncic recalled. “As the sun came up, Mom and I finally drove out to see what was going on, and it was mostly just smoldering. But it was less than two miles away! It was closer than we thought.”

Facing tragedy as a community

The Poloncic property wasn’t burned thanks to the heroic efforts of firefighters and landowners who kept the flames from jumping south of I-90. But many people on the north side weren’t so lucky.

“It’s a very eerie feeling when you can see flames and there’s ash in the air,” Poloncic said. “It spread so fast that if we’d have waited to react, knowing it took us an hour and a half to load all those mares and babies, I don’t know if we’d have made it.”

One former calf roper’s entire ranch and several cattle burned up while many others lost pastures, cattle and sheep.

“I was so amazed at how our community pulled together,” Poloncic said. “There were trailers going every direction hauling horses and cattle and helping people out; it was constant until 3 a.m. It made me proud to be from here.”

This all occurred only a week before the big Fizz Bomb barrel futurity in Gillette and a couple of days before the Horsewell Classic in nearby Casper.

“You hear stories about people going through it, but you never think about the aftermath,” Poloncic said. “Megan Welles, a good friend of mine, who was just two days away from producing the Horsewell Classic, had her whole place burn up. Nobody would have blamed her for canceling the race, but maybe it helped get it all off her mind. And Kiley Scott-Kocher and Alicia Werner [who stands Ain’t Seen Iceman Yet] got that Rancher Relief page going the very next day and did such a good job. The people who started hauling loads of hay to ranchers and sacrificed their time? Gosh, people are so grateful.”

Rising from the ashes

Scott-Kocher, a barrel racer and producer in that county, took it upon herself to set up a website called Wyoming Rancher Fire Relief and opened a bank account offering a way for people to donate tax-deductible cash, hay and pasture. The accompanying Facebook page functions as a silent auction offering items for sale in photos with bids placed in comments.

Almost immediately, donations for the auction came pouring in. People can bid on tack, art and home décor, as well as jewelry, puppies, fishing trips and several breedings to great stallions.

A small sampling of auction items:

Wyoming native Bambi Robb activated her friendships with the gold-buckle team ropers she’s come to know over a career of driving and caring for horses. In short order, 25 ropers, including Joe Beaver, Clay O’Brien Cooper, JD Yates, Speed Williams and Rich Skelton, donated free clinics for the cause.

Barely two weeks after so many Wyoming ranchers lost everything, Scott-Kocher estimates the website has raised $160,000 and counting, as more items continue to be donated. Shae Bray and Heidi Foy are also helping her manage the relief efforts, and the Cowboy Channel has helped spread the word.

These barrel racers’ efforts are reminiscent of what the television personality Mister Rogers used to say—in any catastrophe, “There will always be helpers. If you look for the helpers, you’ll know there’s hope.”

Help contribute to relief efforts by checking out the Wyoming Rancher Fire Relief page on Facebook and bidding on some great items!