As quickly as it came through, the fire is now done. The sky is once again blue, albeit hazy from leftover smokiness. The only good by-product of a fire is having the most spectacular sunsets--the colors are breath-taking. (Pictures coming soon.)
We evacuated our horses last Tuesday to a local barn, and then brought them home again on Thursday evening. I thought it would be a huge ordeal and our horses would have a hard time with the uproar of fast moves and crazy living arrangements, but I am happy to report that everyone just rolled with the punches. By Saturday it was just as if we had never left. My biggest surprise was that I felt the same way.
The past year has been hard for me, being the control freak that I am. We had a devastating fire at our then-current barn last October. It was a huge fire with no warning, and I, my daughter E and my client Lori, were literally the last ones up the canyon road to the barn. The county Fire team closed the road (the only way into or out of the canyon) as soon as we went through. There were just a dozen or so people at the facility, and because the fire was moving at an incredible speed, we had no time at all to evacuate any horses. So we all ran around the barn, gathering all the horses each of us could hold. (Have you ever tried walking six large dogs at the same time? Multiply that by 1,000+ pounds per panicky horse.) We hustled them to the most fireproof place on the property (an open courtyard with cement/sand footing), and stood there holding them while the fire literally blasted and burned across the treetops above us. Embers flew everywhere, starting little fires all around us, and burning us and the horses. That was the longest thirty minutes of my life. When it was finally past us, we spent the rest of the day re-settling the horses and putting out hundreds of hot spots. We lost our hay storage building, and the barn workers who lived on the property lost their trailer homes, but no horses or people were injured. (Other barns in our canyon were not so lucky.)
The aftermath was difficult, as we weren't able to work our horses for more than two months after the fire. Horses are extremely sensitive to air quality, and smoke damage can quickly lead to pneumonia. So the resident wisdom is to take six to eight weeks off (or more) and then slowly work back to your normal routine. It was hard to endure the forced inactivity, but it paid off--none of the horses in our care had any long-lasting effects. But it felt like it took FOREVER.
After that experience, we have lived in "hyper-fire" mode, and keep an eye on the temperature and humidity readings like weather Nazis. Hence my feelings of near-panic about this latest fire danger--not the actual fire itself, but the after-effects. And because we had a plan in mind and were able to be so pro-active at the very beginning of this latest incident, we all came through it with flying colors. What a huge relief. Not just because of the safety of everyone involved (which is definitely a huge factor), but also because we can go right back to our normal routine. And in record time.
In the words of Bruce Willis at the end of "Die Hard": Yippee Ki Yay Motherfucker. Great ending to a less-than-perfect situation.
What heartbreaking pictures. It's impossible for me to even imagine although the coverage on television is very comprehensive and covers every angle, both human and commercial. I know you're relieved; the horses must pick up your sensibilities, too.
ReplyDeleteThe photos I included are but a small representation of the devastation at our previous barn last year. There was fire damage literally everywhere you looked, and the two-mile drive up the canyon was like going through a lunar landscape. Now, almost a year later, you can still see many dead and damaged trees, but the undergrowth has returned and looks almost normal again.
ReplyDeleteHorses live in the moment, but are very sensitive to the mindset around them. Having this latest incident come and go as quickly as it did was a huge relief to us, and so, by association, for the horses as well. After the craziness that has been the past year, I can't tell you how happy I am that this was a mere speed bump on the road of life. (Ok--that was really corny, but an accurate description nonetheless.)