Don Huston asked me about how we fared in
the fires. This simple question opened my memory and out flowed the
following story. I hope you will enjoy it. Yes, this is a true
story.
We evacuated on Monday mourning at about
1:30 am as the Coronado Hills fire was cresting the Frank’s Peak to the
north of our ranch. This fire was in the hills between ElfinForest
and south eastern San Marcos.
I never received a reverse 911 call; a hysterical neighbor called instead.
We were prepared with trailer and RV restocked from a CTR that Saturday.
We also had dog leashes, cat carriers and personal bags packed.
We were able to get all animals and humans
off the property in about 20 minutes. Our horses, Lyric and Jazzi, loaded
in less than 4 minutes. My 2 boarders (who do not have trailers)
were hand walked ahead of the RV by my daughter to a neighbors 5 acre denuded
pasture were they were evacuated later that morning.
We (daughter Danielle, sister Bridgit, 2
cats, 2 dogs and our 2 horses) made our way to the Del Mar fairgrounds amid the I-5 freeway
construction and vicious winds. These winds were clocked at up to 80
mph! Once off the freeway we found a long line already waiting to get
into Del
Mar. It snaked out of sight under the freeway with every kind of rig
imaginable. It took about an hour to get from the off ramp to leading
Jazzi and Lyric into stalls in Barn “I”. As we inched
forward in the line up I was impressed by the courtesy exhibited by the other evacuees;
room was made to ensure safe turning, lines merged together without incident.
The scene in Del Mar was both frightening and
comforting. The air was thick with acrid smoke and ash. Over head
lights gave a ghostly light illuminating a circus of horses, humans, dogs,
zebras, goats, alpacas, lamas and even caged birds all seeking refuge into the
thousands of stalls Trailer and barn doors became lethal weapons as
the wind continued to lash out as if in some mindless rage. Neighs of fright
and comfort reverberated up and down the barn isles. Yet Lyric and Jazzi
calmly unloaded and walked without hesitation into strange stalls. Their
neighs were added to the calipee of sounds as more and more trailers poured
into the barn isles. We were safe, we made it without an injury or
mishap; prayers answered.
Around me I saw several hysterical owners
who were forced to leave horses behind due to lack of trailer space.
Still others quickly unloaded determined to rescue beloved equines left in the
path of the fires. Many did not have horse supplies, buckets, hay bags,
hay, etc. Most of us became the other set of hands, holding doors,
filling buckets anything to help our equine comrades in the mist of the biggest
evacuation in the history of the state. By 8 am that morning Del Mar was full with over 2,500 animals
housed in its barns.
