Volunteers Save Livestock After Texas Ross Fire

Garrett Duvall drives through blackened Texas ranchland with a mission born from heartbreak and hope.

For 48 hours straight, Duvall and his volunteer group, the Rancher's Navy, have navigated the Ross Fire burn zone, moving from ranch to ranch with animal triage kits packed with medical supplies. Their goal is simple: save every injured cow, horse, and farm animal they can find.

"It looks like hell. It's another world," Duvall said as his team treated burned livestock across the devastated landscape.

The Ross Fire has scorched over 85,000 acres of North Texas ranchland, leaving some families with nothing but their surviving animals. Duvall's volunteers check fences, treat wounds, and ask families what they need most.

Sometimes the answer breaks their hearts. "We pull into a ranch and their house is gone," Duvall said. "And that kind of hits hard."

One sixth-generation rancher they're helping has saved some of her cows, but the grass her herd depends on has vanished completely. It's a crushing blow for families who've worked the same land for over a century.

Duvall knows this devastation personally. CBS News first met him two years ago during the Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest wildfire in Texas history. That disaster burned over 1 million acres, killed two people, and destroyed thousands of livestock.

During that crisis, Duvall rescued a badly burned calf and named her Ash. Against the odds, she survived.

Why This Inspires

Today, Ash is two years old and thriving. She's raising her own calf now, a living symbol that recovery is possible even after catastrophic loss.

"That kind of gives a little bit of hope for the future," Duvall said. Ash proves that animals treated for severe burns have a strong chance of survival with proper care.

That hope fuels every rescue mission. While flames still threaten parts of the burn zone and thousands of acres remain blackened, Duvall has seen the other side of disaster before.

He's watched grass grow back, herds rebuild, and communities heal. Now he's bringing that hard-won wisdom to Ross Fire survivors who can't yet imagine their ranches recovering.

Duvall believes brighter days are coming for North Texas ranchers, because he's already lived through them once before.