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WILDLAND FIRES – PLANNING, PLANNING, PLANNING (page 3)
Once
outside, I was relieved. So I thought. It was now dusk. The fire
was racing past us. Everything was on fire. There was a garage
attached to the house. We heard a lot of noises. Someone opened up
the garage door. There must have been 50 cats in there! They
were all screaming and dying. None of them tried to come outside. I felt
so helpless. But that was over quick.
By now the embers
were so bad, I was crying. The cats upset me. The house was burning up in front of
me. I was getting stung with embers everywhere. I asked Michael what do we
do now? Can we please leave? He told me toughen up, we still had work
to do. I said like what? He pointed at the barn. I stared in horror. I saw
a horse’s head sticking out a window. Horses! We didn’t know about the
horses! How many? The barn was hard to make out with the overgrowth,
the fire, the dusk, the PILES OF WOOD NEXT TO THE BARN WITH THE SHAKE SHINGLE ROOF! We
headed for the barn. The latches were hard to open. There were about 10 or
so stalls. The horses were screaming. I mean screaming. Human screams. And
dogs. There were dogs in there too. I remember opening up a stall and some
dogs came out. A horse ran past me on the way out. Another horse ran past me on the
way in. Dogs were jumping into the fire. Right into the fire! And then they were
gone. I was sorry I had let them out. We couldn’t get hold of the horses, no
halters on them. I just knew I was gonna get my head kicked off. One
of us would have to go into the stall and try to scare the horse out. Some came out.
Then they would go right back in! We realized that we had to close the door
as soon as the horse ran out. But they all kept going back in. I know most of them
died. I was trying not to show it, but I was bawling like a baby. Why wouldn’t
the horses run out where they were safe? WHY DIDN’T THAT MAN TELL US HE HAD
HORSES UP HERE? WHY DIDN’T HE STAY? I remember to this day his smiling face.
By now, we had
to leave the barn. It was too dangerous. No way, even if we had water, could we do
anything now. I remember the sounds of the animals burning. The smell. You could
catch whiffs of hair now and then. I was sick to my stomach. We went outside. I
didn’t say anything. I went to the truck. I didn’t care who wanted me to do what.
It didn’t matter anymore. We lost the house. We lost the cats. We fought like
crazy for the horses. We lost them too. The dogs. All of them were dead. All around
me. And the embers were still stinging me like bees. Somehow, I had lost my goggles.
I was afraid of burning my eyes. I went to the truck. There was Mike. Sitting
there frozen. I didn’t remember him in the barn. He had been in the truck awhile.
I felt ashamed because I was hiding from the fire, too. Then a horse ran by the truck.
Michael and Larry were trying to catch it. I got out. They had found
a rope somewhere. The horse was scared to death. They were trying to keep him from
running back to the barn. But the barn was now a fireball. The horse was confused.
He couldn’t find his barn. They never did catch him. I saw the horse
again, one more time. He was just walking along a road, down by the staging area.
After that, we
got in the truck. No one was really saying much. As we were going down the
driveway, a dog was following us. We stopped and gave him a ride. He
was pretty shaken up but didn’t resist when we picked him up. We later turned
him over to animal control. I wanted to keep him. He needed a vet though. I’m not
sure he made it.
On the way down
the driveway, I kept thinking how ignorant we were not to have noticed the barn before.
How could we have missed it? Was it that overgrown? Was there that much wood
stacked around? I guess it’s something I’ll never know. We never did talk about
that fire like we did the rest. The fire had claimed victory on us. And we were so
confident before it struck. We were not in familiar territory, miles from home.
But how would
you pre-fire plan for this? Do the local firemen know where all the barns are? Do
they care? How much information can you expect the fire department to know? How
much help can you expect in a catastrophe? When you live out from town, you
are on your own. It’s just you. Your livestock depends on you and what you
can do to prevent disasters from happening. And what plan do you have when
one strikes? How much is it worth to have a certified electrician do a safety
check? Are you willing to spend the money to fix the hazards? In a shared
barn, how do you convince your fellow boarders to contribute to safety? Housekeeping? I’ve
seen barns that actually have a canopy of cobweb/hay mixtures. Hay strewn everywhere. Cigarette
butts on the ground. . . .”