Evacuatation Lesson

[Lori T]

We have had a stubborn wildfire burning near us since last week. It is about 5 miles from our barn and I and my neighbors have been on watch..my trailer is hitched to the truck and I have phone #'s of reinforcements.
Sunday, when I first became aware of the fire and tracked down its exact location, I realized it was about a mile from the barn where my good friend boards. I called her to inform her and told her to evacuate. She was unaware of the fire, so drove out, planning on evacuating then. Well, the barn owner convinced her all was well and my friend did not move.
Well, last night, the fire flared back up and was moving onto the farm property and near the barn where her horse is. By the time my friend arrived, the roads were closed and she had to wait over an hour before being allowed in. The smoke was so bad, she was choking, so you can imagine what the horses were having to breath. Her horse was paniced and would not load. It took an hour to get her loaded.
So please, let this be a lesson! Evacuate when you have the chance..don't wait until it may be too late. It is better to evacuate for no reason! Even if the fire wasn't an immediate danger, her horse was breathing in horrible smoke for days!

[wingedmare]

Thankyou for posting this.

We have similar problems out here in So-Cal as well. People very often think it is under control or that 3 miles is pretty far away and then sadly end up losing their horses when the fires do what they do best; burn hot and fast and unpredictable.

Worse yet is that some people don't have an evacuation plan, or a way to haul their horse. So, if you are trailer-less don't be ashamed to call who ever you know with one and discuss evacuations. I have seen one too many horses wandering the desert during wild fires with the Phone Number of their owner spray painted on their sides because the owner was unable to evacuate the horse and turned it lose to save it's self.

Lori: I am glad your friend was able to get her horse loaded and safely moved; I hope the horse recovers soon from the smoke. Best Wishes.

[RAM]

Many states have State Animal Response Teams (SART) and often go down to county level. I know PA, FL, and NC have them but am not sure about other states. You can search through your state Emergency Management Agency. These teams (at least in PA) are trained to respond to animal emergencies when contacted by emergency responders. I saw them working during a barn fire. They are there to help and a great resource during the emergency and in pre-planning for emergencies.

Now is a good time to get prepared for floods, fires, etc.

[saddleup]

Thanks for posting this reminder. I've justified having a 2 horse trailer (when I have 3 horses) by saying that I only ever take one at a time so "what does it matter?" I don't want to have to decide which one doesn't get evacuated, so I'm now officially on the hunt for a 3 horse trailer.

I've heard over and over that the horses that won't load are the ones that get left behind in an emergency. I'm going to give my retired horses periodic refresher courses in trailer loading, too.

[equineartworks]

Oh my gosh Lori! that is just too close for comfort!

We have flooding around here more than anything else, and of course that can creep up just as swiftly and without warning. Luckily our farm only gets some slight overflow in a low areas but if, God forbid, the reservoir were to ever give way the farm next door is HIGH above the path of the water and only about 1500 feet away from our barn. I can run our guys there without trailering or to the back fields. We would lose everything in that scenario but all of us would be safe and that is all that really matters.

We don't have to do much trailering, but I am SO grateful we found that trailer now...just for the peace of mind knowing that I can load everyone up and get them somewhere safe!

[HuntJumpSC]

We're dealing with this problem here near Myrtle Beach SC right now. So far 15,000 acres have burned, 70 houses destroyed and still not contained. This thing is huge, and several barns are currently threatened. I'm a county employee listening to it now on the fire/rescue scanner....we've got a huge, scary mess right now. :eek::eek:

[Lori T]

We're dealing with this problem here near Myrtle Beach SC right now. So far 15,000 acres have burned, 70 houses destroyed and still not contained. This thing is huge, and several barns are currently threatened. I'm a county employee listening to it now on the fire/rescue scanner....we've got a huge, scary mess right now. :eek::eek:

Best of luck to you. I hope all horses have been evacuated. We are still watching our fire, it has burned over 1000 acres and is 80% contained.

[Iwantapony]

I posted this on a different thread, but figured it was appropriate here, too.

http://goldevacuation.webs.com has emergency forms (horse info, trailer info, where to take the horses, etc) and many helpful links. Better safe than sorry!!

[hunt_jumpfl]

Lori, where is the fire? I didn't even realize that we had fires in the area at the moment - was it from one of the storms last week?

I hope everyone is ok.

[hj0519]

Lori, where is the fire? I didn't even realize that we had fires in the area at the moment - was it from one of the storms last week?

I hope everyone is ok.

This thread is from April...

[cloudyandcallie]

Florida is getting a lot of rain now, and lots of that rain has come up to the SE, but everyone does need to make sure they teach their horses to load "fast" under any circumstances. You cannot take an hour to load one horse when there is an evacuation for fire or hurricane or flood or any reason, including leaving a barn.

[hunt_jumpfl]

This thread is from April...

Thanks...I obviously need some sleep :sleepy:

[foundationmare]

It's a GOOD thing you need sleep! Doesn't hurt to have this bumped up with hurricane season gearing up and wildfires raging in SoCal.

I don't have to worry about these things but, if I did, you can be sure I'd be the first one outta' there! With fire in particular horses are soooo sensitive and sooo panicky, I can imagine that loading in a panic can't be a walk in the park.