CA Fires

Koolkat
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CA Fires

Postby Koolkat » Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:56 am

Anyone here close to this devastation? There was news of a barn burning this morning with 20+ horses killed.. .

Some horrific footage from San Luis Reyes Downs training track where the horses were simply let loose from their burning stalls. Many brave caretakers freeing horses, trying to catch and trailer the terrified animals to safety. The goat!! :D

https://www.facebook.com/leonel.smithor ... 856329056/

ETA: 250 horses evacuated now (10:30 PDT) to Del Mar

And if anyone is so inclined (she is connected to Graham Motion (trainer/Animal Kingdom=2011 Kentucky Derby winner):
https://www.gofundme.com/help-for-san-luis-rey-downs

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Amado » Fri Dec 08, 2017 2:00 pm

I saw that on facebook this morning, I couldn’t finish watching the footage. So terrifying and tragic. :(

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Re: CA Fires

Postby PaulaO » Fri Dec 08, 2017 3:11 pm

What Amado said. It saddens me to no end.

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Re: CA Fires

Postby WheresMyWhite » Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:50 pm

San Luis Rey Training Center sounded like a horrific scene.

Article on Bloodhorse today said about 25 have died (although not sure of exact count yet). San Luis Rey is where many TB horses train when not at a track. Current So Cal TB racing is at Los Alamitos and they have cancelled today's card out of respect for the horses and people involved. Many TBs wareill be stabled at San Luis Rey and day ship to Los Al.

Many horses were evacuated to Del Mar.

Trainer Martine Bellocq is in critical condition in a medically induced coma with second and third degree burns on 50% of her body trying to save 3 of her horses who were also lost.

Trainer Joe Herrick also had third degree burns on arm and shoulder.

One of the barn workers was kicked in the face by a horse he was trying to help.

Doug O'Neill, Peter Miller and Richard Baltas are some of the bigger 'name' trainers that stable at San Luis Rey although there are so many more smaller trainers there also (500 horses).

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Koolkat » Fri Dec 08, 2017 5:00 pm


Abby Kogler
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Re: CA Fires

Postby Abby Kogler » Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:20 pm

Hey all,

I live in Fallbrook a couple of miles from the Lilac fire. We got our first alert about this fire at 11:30 and our first 'get ready to evacuate' about 1 or so. I was already ready to go since I have lived through this before. I had the cats confined with crates ready, the trailer hooked up, had opened the gates (electric so hard to open without power) and left the horses halters on...you just never know in weather like this and little things save time. I took my first two out at 1:30. My husband got the mandatory evac about two and drove to Temecula to a hotel. I had the dogs and cats in the truck and trailer. 15 south was closed so I went to Galway Downs. The manager there is great. Turned around to come home for the other two. So much traffic on both trips but made it home and loaded the last two. San Luis Rey is another place that we evacuate to in this area. It is a few miles away. The origin of the fire is a couple of miles south of my house. The winds blow so hard from the east and they just carry burning embers and leaves at 40-70 mph, you just cant stop it. Its really terrible. But lucky for us, bad for others, is that the winds were not in our direction. If the fire was another mile farther north we would have been screwed.

A friends brother works at the Downs. Luis said hes never seen his brother cry like that, he could not talk he was so upset at what had happened and what he had witnessed. We all know trainers and workers there. Its just awful.

Cal horse people have lived this so many times and everybody steps up. The network for trailer staging and haul outs is really impressive. In 2003 and 2007 I lived two miles from Del Mar so worked there like crazy in those fires (even wrote an article for Horse and Rider about it) but now I am an hour north so I stayed up here and couldn't get down 15 anyway.

The horses were just champs. They were pretty amped in their paddocks cause the wind was blowing so hard with dirt leaves and sticks around and the trees were creaking and dropping big branches but they loaded like pros and settled in to Galway like troopers. The wind blew so hard it blew over the big crate my cats were in..! and they escaped but bless them, they came back! and I caught them and stowed them again.

Slept in a hotel with the dogs, the cats in the horse trailer at Galway; got there early and the boys were good... eating, drinking, calm, happy to see me.

So now we just wait and see what the wind does and how things go. We are still on a mandatory evac order.

I want to say one thing about a local very bad scamming rescue. HiCalibre will be all over this fire begging for monies. They are not even close. Michelle Knutilla is the biggest scammer I have ever seen in a lifetime of horses and she is using this fire as a way to drum donations. She is on FB saying the have to evacuate (not true) and that they are heading to Del Mar.

This is so wrong of her. Aside from the grifting and lies to get donations, she diverts services and funds from people who really do need it. Shes a shameless hustler.

That said, as much as this community despises her, if she really *did* need to evac, we would all risk life and limb to get up there and get her overcrowded sad horses to safety. Don't donate to her. Please.

There are funds being set up to help the grooms and people at San Luis Rey. I can get those links. There are lots of people and horses displaced. A good thing to do is call Fallbrook Feed, or Marys in Del Mar, and buy hay and shavings and ask for it to be delivered to SLRD or to SLR Equine Hospital or to Del Mar. Del Mar is so much bigger and sort of more in the news but we are an hour or so north and need deliveries here local. Fallbrook Feed or Hawthorne Feed will both know people who need help or have it sent to the Downs.

Feel free to message me or call or FB me or whatever. Its a sad mess! We are very very lucky.

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Sunshine2Me » Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:55 pm

Abby -

I'm glad you and your family are all safe!

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Angfreda » Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:27 pm

Abby I can't imagine.
Those workers that saved so many horse at SLDR are heroes. I have no doubt had the horse people I know been in those shoes we would have stepped up to help and try to save as many as one can, alas in doing so, you're also exposed to the horrors of those you can't save. I sure hope that there is some aid for the emotional toll that will have on those workers, now and well into the future.

Be safe.

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Josette » Sat Dec 09, 2017 8:23 pm

Saw some footage on the news - so horrible - very upsetting being a horse owner to watch it.

Abbey Kogler - if you could post the links to those VALID donation sites to help the grooms - I would like to donate. Very grateful that they stayed and tried to help however they could under horrific circumstances. (I do not belong to FB.)

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Abby Kogler » Sat Dec 09, 2017 9:04 pm

https://www.gofundme.com/thoroughbredcare

is the link for the grooms and horses from San Luis Rey.

Here is a link to our local paper with updates and I think donation news.

I just got an update from Fallbrook Riders Field that there are 40 displaced horses and they need buckets and rakes and stuff. The contact number is 760 583 9515 for how to help. It is a couple of miles away; I am a member and can vouch for them. You could call Fallbrook Feed and send some shavings or rice hulls over. 7607286717.


http://villagenews.com/uncategorized/fi ... k-back-up/



Thank you all! Josette and anyone else....what happens in these situations is that there is a lot of attention, lots of donations, and then things calm down and everyone goes home and tries to deal with what has happened. I know several displaced people, displaced horses, that will be needing help in the next few weeks.

Del Mar has a ton of stuff and does not at this point need anything. At this point also Galway is fine and does not need donations.

I will update some more local links as things become clearer. Those who want to help, give me a day to see the smaller needs that will be overlooked. One of the SLR guys is in a burn unit and will definitely need care and help. Lots of people in my town and Bonsall lost everything. Its all so in flux right now. The winds are crazy and we all expect either new fires to start and make new people move or that the Lilac fire will kick up again. Our mandatory evacuation order was lifted and we are on a standby order. I am home now for a shower and to get more hay but am not bringing the horses home yet. We are on the north side of Reche, a block from Green Canyon...across the street is mandatory, we are voluntary. Kinda hard to know exactly what to do/ We are staying packed and ready to leave again. The kitties are back in their crates and the chickens are confined with a crate in the coop to be easily grabbed. A friend will come get them if we have to leave again.

When I do get the boys home I will also take in a foster; a big 19 yr old ISH who cant be stalled, cant be turned out with other horses...ha! Why not! The more the merrier >;->

Thanks for the well wishes! I will post good donation links as thing settle.

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Koolkat » Sun Dec 10, 2017 12:05 am

A video of a very touching reunion, the caretaker's relief and love is so moving. And look at that happy horse!

https://mobile.twitter.com/TVG/status/9 ... 1216389120

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Abby Kogler » Sun Dec 10, 2017 3:26 pm

https://www.gofundme.com/lilac-fire-feed-for-animals

This is a good local donate fund.

http://trifectacenter.com/

Trifecta has about 100 of the injured horses from San Luis Rey Downs and will be needing hay and bedding. Big Horse Feed in Temecula is taking donations for Trifecta. 951.676.2544



The winds are back up today so everyone is on high alert.

The San Diego fires have taken some attention from the LA fires. Middle Ranch is a huge multi discipline facility that had a lot of damage, barns, tack rooms, etc destroyed. Saffyre Sanctuary is doing good work up there with tack equipment and feed donations. Esta Bernstein is legit and any donations to Saffyre will go to where things are needed. The big evac areas get lots of donations but the smaller facilities and individuals are also in dire need.

Thanks all! We are going to be back on mandatory alert Im sure with the winds expected today. My horses are still at Galway Downs and are doing well. They aren't used to being stalled all day but we take lots of walks. The winds yesterday were crazy and about knocked me over and the dirt and grit that blows is blinding. Walking Lafit was like trying to walk with a helicopter on the end of the lead but we survived and the others were fine.

Its so disorienting to drive around Temecula, which is about 11 miles north of Fallbrook, and have everything be normal, knowing that at home there are people who have lost everything. One friends house was the only one that survived in her neighborhood. One horse friends middle barn, hay barn, and storage area burned, but her house and her two other barns were ok. Its crazy.

If we can get through today we should be ok >;->

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Tarlo Farm » Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:54 am

Do you think about leaving the area? It seems your wildfires are becoming such monstrous disasters in this day and age of global warming...

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Koolkat » Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:55 am


Josette
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Re: CA Fires

Postby Josette » Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:09 pm

http://ktla.com/2017/12/08/creek-fire-c ... -to-death/

I've come across several articles reporting of horses locked in stalls where fire fighters and rescue personnel could not remove them.

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Angfreda » Mon Dec 11, 2017 3:17 pm

Josette wrote:http://ktla.com/2017/12/08/creek-fire-county-officials-describe-response-to-barn-where-29-horses-burned-to-death/

I've come across several articles reporting of horses locked in stalls where fire fighters and rescue personnel could not remove them.


That farm also has videos online of horse tripping as part of their rodeo reperatoire.
Dispicable.

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Abby Kogler » Mon Dec 11, 2017 3:29 pm

Yes, that happened at one barn in I think the Sylmar fire. Firefighters got the locks off of 10 stalls but not the rest. I don't know the woman who ran that barn and don't know why those stalls had locks. Some barns do that, and its actually the owners who do it. Maybe they had horses stolen, who knows. That happened in the first round of fires up there and I suspect it blew up so fast she couldn't get the locks off. One would think that when a Santa Ana is on that you would get ready to go in case you get a fire. You should plan that if you have ten seconds to get out, that you will be out in five. I had no idea there would be a fire but I would much rather unpack everything then try to grab stuff in that ten seconds.

Yeah, regarding the barn, there is a lot of shit horse stuff going on in Mexican rodeo (horse tripping) and Charro stuff. I hate it. Those poor horses.

There is so much information buzzing around, its so sad. I know it comes from people just being upset about the horse deaths and its natural. But unless you have lived through the Santa Ana driven fires you just don't realize what its like. The alert for the Lilac fire came at 11:31 I think. Even though we are just a couple of miles north, the winds were so strong east to west that we didn't even get smoke. I was already pretty ready and left the first trip about 12:30. 76 and 15 were closed right away, and from my part of town, south Reche Rd, I could only go up Live Oak to 15 north. Most of my horse friends are on the other side of town and they went on 76 west which was still open, to the 5 and then to Del Mar.

Trailers were immediately dispatched to get the SLRD horses, but they couldn't get there from the east side of 76. They could only get in from the other side. Later the firefighters, sheriffs etc let trailers get in one by one through the fire part of east 76, and up through Vista, but Mission and Gird were closed, for a long time they were not letting trailers in. On a calm day with big rigs it would take hours to get all the horses out of SLRD.

You have to picture 70 mph winds carrying burning sticks, embers, leaves. Fires don't crawl along the ground. They fly through the air and light everything they touch or land on. SLRD was right in the path, they saw it coming, they started to evac, but the access roads were closed and boom, its on you. It was so windy at Galway yesterday that I had trouble cleaning a paddock that they let me turn my guys out in throughout the day. The poop was rolling along the ground in the wind and would blow off my fork feet when I picked it up. I was absolutely dark with grit and dirt.

Our evac was lifted yesterday and although it is hot the winds are over. I feel comfortable bringing the boys home. I am also getting one that doesn't have a home in LA any more and will take in one more.

As to moving, yeah, sometimes we think about leaving Cal. But not because of the fires. Fires are part of the Cal ecosystem. We have pines that only germinate after a fire. The live and black oaks are perfectly suited to recover from the fires that clear the brush. I have evacuated from fires since I was a little girl. I think the problem now is that all of the acres that used to just burn with no harm done, now are full of people. There are millions and millions more people here than there used to be and these homes are built in the hills and mountains and are now vulnerable to fires. I don't attribute these larger disasters to climate issues particularly, there just are many more homes now to burn.

So glad we were spared and so sad for all that weren't. Ill bring mine home and then help with taking horses back home from Del Mar. Thanks again for the well wishes all and donate if you can.

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Re: CA Fires

Postby WheresMyWhite » Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:04 pm

Del Mar sounded eerie Thursday afternoon. They were expecting a few hundred horses from SLRD. Maybe one or two trucks showed up in the early afternoon and then nothing for hours until early evening. :(

Trailers couldn't get in to SLR to get the horses.

Abby is right. You can't appreciate the power of a high wind fire. I haven't been there for the CA fires but was in Colorado Springs for the Walden Canyon and Black Forest fires. The Black Forest fire was burning close to 1 mile/hour at it's peak. The majority of the damage was done in the first 6 hours as embers would fly great distances to set more undergrowth and trees on fire.

For those that live in a urban/wildland interface, the local wildland crews are usually more than willing to give advice on how to clear and maintain property to help them keep your home and structures safe. They are willing to give advice on evacuation plans

I know after a smaller fire a few years before the big Black Forest fire, the fire chief was invited to talk to our HOA. He talked about the need to keep understory (the undergrowth) cut low, clear cutting the Ponderosa pines up 15' (i.e., remove all branches) and removing all trees close to or overhanging structures. He said at the time (don't know what the policy is now) that in a big fire, they would go down a street and mark the homes they felt were defensible and focus on those knowing they would not be able to save them all.

A subdivision very close to where the fire started had very little understory and all the pines were clearcut and IIRC they lost no homes.

Maintaining land and having plans is great but sometimes, the fires blow up so fast and so quickly that things like SLR happen... turn the horses loose and hope for the best. :(

Hoping that today the fires don't flare up again or new fires start with high winds (I grew up in So Cal and those Santa Ana winds can be nasty).

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Abby Kogler » Tue Dec 12, 2017 3:10 am

All the boys are home now, safe and sound. No winds! Mess everywhere, leaves and branches. Will be taking in a couple of fosters for who knows how long. I am so relieved to be done with this and so sorry for everyone who was not so lucky. There's a lot of sad in my town. Thanks to all who have donated; I know some of you have and I thank you.

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Re: CA Fires

Postby Koolkat » Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:43 pm

A moving interview and accompanying article in the aftermath of the horrific event:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/spo ... tent+(Feed


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