Over the past two weeks Los Angeles County, where I live, has been faced with numerous fire disasters.
Big ones like the Palisades and Eaton fires and smaller like the Lidia fire that broke out near me on the same day. The Lidia fire put my area under an evacuation warning. Shortly after the warning was issued the electricity was cut. This happens often during high winds to try and eliminate some of the fire risk. Downed power lines creating sparks can ignite fires, which may be the cause of the Eaton fire currently under investigation.
While the fire near me was contained fairly quickly, and not nearly as dire as the other fires raging in the county, the sense of dread and feelings of fear are the same, and hundreds of thousands of Southern California residents are feeling it.
Just before the evacuation warning came through on the Watch Duty app on my phone, the water dropping helicopters and planes began to fly over my property. I knew where the fire was and which direction the wind was blowing – away from me – but the wind direction can change quickly so I hooked up the horse trailer and brought the horses in from the pasture into stalls so I could easily catch them if the warning change to an evacuation order.
As friends from across the country began to see the news, texts were coming in quickly and I responded to as many as I could while I packed other necessary household items. I was ready to go if required and as I waited, I began to think about how important it is to have a truck and horse trailer to evacuate horses in times of disaster and how fortunate I am to have this equipment.
The horse community in SoCal is large and equestrians rally to help each other especially in times of need. However, if you keep a horse at a large boarding facility and you don’t have a truck and trailer you are truly at the mercy of the changing conditions, the availability of people to help with the evacuation and the space available on the trailers that arrive to evacuate the horses. During this disaster social media was flooded with requests for help and although there are a few coordinated equine evacuation support groups accessible online, those experiencing this for the first time may not be following them. The good news is that it appears most horses were evacuated safely. A few were turned out to fend for themselves, and word is they survived. I saw one video of a young woman who rode a horse, not her own, miles to get away from the flames, as the horse would not get into a trailer. Trailer loading training is another imperative if you own horses whether they regularly leave the property or not.
As I waited and watched the news about the fires on my phone, I was calm, and confident in my evacuation plan and I was ready to go if told to do so.
It wasn’t until a day or two later that I thought it was safe enough to un-hook the horse trailer, take the horses out of the stalls and put away my evacuation kit. That’s when the numbness set in, the surreal nature of what was still happening all around us, it was like a war zone.
Two beautiful Los Angeles communities wiped out. I have friends who have lost everything. Others where the smoke damage is so pervasive in their homes it will take months to clean, if it can be cleaned. I feel blessed that my home is standing and my horses safe. I don’t think my disaster despair will subside anytime soon or until the winds calm down and I can get on my horse again.
