Two girls – a teenager and a 5-year-old – helped save 17 panicked horses trapped in a riding stable near the Staten Island inferno.
Ashley Martinez, 16, and Kelly Delman were cleaning the stable when they heard a thunderous blast, and the stable began shaking so hard its windows blew out.
“All of a sudden, this tremendous boom hit everything – I thought a jet was crashing on us,” said Ashley, a champion teen equestrienne.
The stable was immediately swept by smoke and searing heat.
“I thought the barn was in flames, that we wouldn’t be able to get out,” Ashley said. “We only thought about getting the horses out.”
Kelly, whose family owns the 3D Stables, ran to wake her sleeping father.
Ashley began pulling harnesses over the heads of the terrified horses so they could be pulled to safety.
Kelly ran back, and as the two girls were pulling the horses to safety, Sandy Dono, who owns the nearby Equus Stable, rushed to the scene to help.
“I knew they were there alone with all the horses,” Dono said. “The girls were the true heroes.”
Kelly wept in a family friend’s van as the horses were led out of the fire zone. “There’s Taco, there’s Greystone,” she said softly as she saw her friends being walked by.
She stopped crying only when she spotted her pony Cinnamon being taken to safety.
Later, the two girls snuggled with a white pony named Frosty while the rescued horses were taken two other stables. All of the horses were saved.
Hours later, Ashley, a Tottenville HS junior with a roomful of riding trophies, said she still had not gotten over the shock.
“I only wanted to get the horses out,” she said. “I’m glad everything’s all right.”