Rachal Patterson lost three pigs and a pregnant goat in a fire that destroyed the barn behind her Hernando County home Thursday.

But she has her boyfriend to thank for saving the animals he could, risking his life to get them out.

"My neighbor was coming across the fence to help," Patterson said, "and they were out here and the animals were just screaming and screaming and they were trying to get them out."

Her boyfriend, Raymond Moore, was the first to run into the burning barn on Ranch Road to try and save what animals he could. As a result, Patterson says he suffered severe burns all over his body.

"He burnt his arm, right forearm is burnt. He has second-degree burns there and his face," Patterson said. "His lungs, his throat, his esophagus."


Raymond Moore, Rachal Patterson

Fire officials believe a space heater sparked the blaze, although Patterson says there was no power in the barn to even run one.

Patterson says she doesn't know what started the fire, but what she says she does know is that she has a lot of work ahead of her to put her life back together and that she has a hero for a boyfriend.

"I'm a disabled veteran, so I get paid by the month," Patterson said. "So I buy my feed at the beginning of the month. All my feed was in the barn. And I have horses and cows and I had pigs and goats, rabbits and chickens."

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