On the afternoon of June 3, grand prix rider and show jumping professional Aaron Vale was riding horses and teaching a student at his barn in Williston, Fla., when he noticed something odd near his home. 

“Originally I thought it was dust, because we were mowing the paddock next to the house,” Vale said.

When the dust didn’t subside, Vale drove up to the house and discovered it was on fire.

“I turned on my cellphone flashlight,” he said. “You couldn’t see six inches, the smoke was so thick. There was no way I could go in.”