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Fwd: RC: California Fires!



For those of you in the Malibu area, please PLEASE start preparing now if you 
haven't already. Since a former DRT director with an attitude talked to the 
City about what a liability our MSAR Unit was (oh brother!), we don't 
officially exist anymore, SO....

If you need your horses lifted out of the canyons, don't wait until the last 
minute to call or prepare. If you have a trailer now is the time to have it 
checked for safety. Cut back your brush, check your access, replace bad 
hoses, and amke sure you have a plan. 

Despite not being "official" many of us will still go when called. But YOU 
can make it safer for us by calling before the fire is at your barn, and by 
at least tyrign to take care of yourself as best you can. 

Finally, if you have a problem with having the one active and injury-free 
unit of the Agoura Hills DRT disbanded, please feel free to call the city and 
tell them. Too bad - we will still go - they have just made it that much less 
safe. Many thanks and kudos to D. Richard Stevens who lends continued and 
exceptional support and services during these emergencies. Smetime sI think 
the OWNERS need the tranques!
sandy

---- Begin included message ----
 California Wildfires Out of Control - What you need to know!

=09In case you haven't noticed, California is on fire!  As a City of Chico F=
irefighter, I feel very comfortable going to fires at other people's houses, =
but this week, contending with an out of control wildfire heading directly f=
or my house, different feelings crossed my mind.  The usual calm confidence =
was replaced with the 3 A's: anxiety, anger and adrenaline.=20
=09 Monday evening, August 21st, we experienced a beautiful lightning storm.  =
Unfortunately, it was "dry lightning" - not associated with any significant =
rain.  In the morning, there were several small fires in Butte County.  Afte=
r listening to my scanner and hearing the confident Incident Commander infor=
m his Dispatch Center, "We have this under control," I loaded up the young h=
orse into the trailer and headed out of town.  After all, there was no sense =
in letting a day off go to waste.  While my primary horse, Kahlua, is recupe=
rating from her suspensory injury  (two weeks before Tevis), now is the time =
to get Cathy's endurance prospect Beholdd out on the trail.   I met a friend =
at Lake Oroville and we had a wonderful ride.  On the way back home, while s=
till 30 miles away, I noticed that the small column of smoke near our house =
had grown - tremendously! Turning on my scanner in the truck I learned that =
California Department of Forestry was working over a dozen fires in the foot=
hills.  The afternoon winds had picked up and most of these small fires were =
joining together to create a huge fire front that was headed right for our h=
ouse.  The scanner was reporting that the before mentioned confident Inciden=
t Commander was now  frantically ordering additional resources and talking a=
bout mandatory evacuations!  Cathy was at work, so I called her and told her =
to meet me at home.  When I arrived home with the horse trailer, the smoke w=
as heavy, but it seemed like the fire would miss us to the south.  Just in c=
ase, we casually  loaded the truck with photo albums, clothes, food and the =
fire safe previously filled with important documents and computer back-ups.  =
Cathy suggested that we start wrapping the horse's legs in case we actually =
had to leave.  Being a paid professional ;-) I thought that it was unnecessa=
ry - we wouldn=92t really have to leave - but decided to help her - just in =
case.  I got one leg wrapped on Kahlua (her bad leg) when all hell broke loo=
se.  The winds changed, the noise sounded like a jet engine and about 100 ya=
rds away a pine tree suddenly exploded into flames like a giant sparkler. On =
an ordinary working day I would be sporting a huge grin -  Firefighters just =
love this stuff - but not this time.  Cathy, who used to be a Volunteer Fire=
fighter remained calm.  In her quiet, confident voice, she was able to quick=
ly catch our other 2 horses.  They can sometimes be a little excitable and d=
ifficult to catch.  Today, they luckily came right away.  I think that they =
wanted to leave also.  As she was driving away, she saw numerous people walk=
ing horses down the main road headed out of town.  The traffic was so conges=
ted that she had a chance to talk with some. Most had friends meeting them a=
t the edge of town, but some didn't even own a trailer  Most people were pan=
icky and unprepared.=20
=09I stayed behind to try and save our house.  Kids, don't try this at home.  =
I had my protective clothing with me and have years of training and experien=
ce on my side.  Once you get the family, animals and photo albums packed, it=
's time to leave.  No house, stereo, or big screen TV is worth your life.  T=
hat's why you pay those annual insurance premiums.  The most important thing=
s in life are not things.
=09We saved our house.  Others didn't.  Some say we were lucky.  I say you m=
ake your own luck.  The following is a list of things that made us "lucky":  =
Although we had a 50' clearance from our house to the forest, this spring, w=
e hired a bulldozer and pushed the manzanita back another 100'.  This gave t=
he Firefighters 150' of "defendable space".   Also, by having scanners at ho=
me and in the truck, we have access to more timely and accurate information =
than the media.  Cathy had left with the horses 20 minutes before the Sherif=
f=92s Office came by to tell us about the mandatory evacuation.  If we had w=
aited for them, there wouldn=92t have been enough time to escape with the ho=
rses.  We also keep a "tidy" yard - no pine needles stacked up against the h=
ouse.  Although I was busy sweeping the roof and  cleaning out the gutters i=
n the few minutes that I had before the fire hit.  Another concern is electr=
icity.  Power is often interrupted during a large fire or other emergency.  =
If you depend on a well for your water source, you might consider a generato=
r. We have a 5kw 220v generator that can run most of  the house - although i=
t has a difficult time keeping the hot tub at our preferred 106 degrees.  If =
you get a generator, have an electrician install a transfer switch so that y=
ou can run it without "back-feeding" electricity to the poor guy working on =
the power pole.  Another rule in our household is: always keep the horse tra=
iler hooked up to the truck and at least one tank full of fuel.  We don't us=
e the huge gas-guzzler for commuting anyway, so this is not a problem.  We a=
lso pre-planned what we are going to take with us if we only have a few minu=
tes notice: our animals, the fire safe box with birth certificates, marriage =
license and recently backed-up computer hard disks; wedding and baby albums, =
and a little HO train that my late father gave me.  With one credit card and =
a stop at Wal-Mart, we can buy food and clothes to last us through any ordea=
l.  One more stop at the feed store and we're set.  Another thing to conside=
r is to pre-arrange a place to bring you animals in case you have to evacuat=
e.  This is something that we had not done.  There were some frantic moments =
and curt conversations on the cell phone on the way into town.  Remember, it =
doesn't do any good to have an agreement with your next door neighbor if the =
whole county is on fire.
=09This story has a happy ending.  Cathy and I are safe.  Our horses got to =
run around in a large pasture with some of their old friends for a couple of =
days while the smoke cleared.  Our house is still standing, although the lan=
dscape is now more of a moonscape.  Now is the time to prepare.  Sooner or l=
ater accidents happen.  Don't wait until it is too late.


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