You can‘t convince the firemen who fought the Golden Stallion fire Easter morning that the life-size plastic stallion atop the building didn’t have a life of it’s own.

“We were off to the side of the building–putting water on the fire–when the stallion turned and looked at us.” said a fireman “Then it leaped into the flames.”

Yucca Valley Fire Chief Harry S. Brissenden likened the spectacle to a scene from the Wagnerian opera, “Die Valkyrie.”

“Despite the heat from the fire, it gave us goose bumps.” he said.