Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The Outside Course!

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features!

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Emergency Evacuation Here; Everything's fine, whew! Sorry, long!
Topic Started: Feb 11 2008, 09:27 AM (663 Views)
OTF
Member Avatar
You're BANNED!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Very high winds yesterday, power outage around 3 PM. Came a loud thumping at the front door, emergency personnel saying, "MANDATORY EVACUATION, 400 acres on fire down the road, get out NOW, we are not able to do anything about the fire!"

VERY FRIGHTENING. No time to have hooked up the big donkey trailer and probably not enough room for all inside anyway (15 including 3 jacks!!!). Wouldn't that have been interesting? And 22 cows. We hoped and prayed that if the fire made it to our place, animals would break through the electric fence and escape into the woods or onto the road. But we didn't know. And I cannot begin to tell you what was going through my mind about my donkeys being in danger.

Well, let me tell you, we boogied, trying to make sure all cows and donkeys had hay and water, and were not in barns, etc. We are surrounded by woods, but the fields are open. Temps were supposed to drop into the teens (and did) last night. We could see smoke beyond the woods across the road, and it was moving quickly. Fire trucks blaring up and down the road. It took us a while, but we did what we could. More emergency people stopped to tell us GET OUT NOW, and the animal control guy even drove back to our barn when he saw us and offered to help.

We tossed two indoor cats in a single cat carrier (stuffing one in, then trying to stuff another in and the first one gets out! :brickwall: ). We grabbed our aging, incontinent dog in her bed, a few valuables (jewelry, R's Martin guitar, firearms) and left. We got a motel room in Louisa about 6 miles away, ate something (R's a diabetic).

At 9:30 pm, we came back to check, worried that a policeman would not let us down the road, but no people, just a "road closed" sign that we drove around, gave donkeys more hay, turned on faucets in the house (no power, worried about pipes bursting in the cold). Could not smell any smoke, the wind had died down but still some gusts. At this point, I believe, fire personnel from as far away as northern VA were working in the area.

Not much sleep (but we did have TV, so I got a few hours worth of shark shows on Discovery). Came home early this morning, a thin haze of smoke around, but all are fine, thank God! The guy at the end of our road almost lost his barn, but someone on a bulldozer managed to plow a fire break to save it.

We are SO unprepared for any kind of emergency, it's frightening. I've never been in that type of situation before. Please think about this happening to you and have some plans in mind in case of this. We could have lost EVERYTHING!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Melliebay
Member Avatar
It'll be an adventure! We're going on an adventure!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Oh my. So glad you are okay. I know VirginiaBred is in the thick of it now too, and is worried sick. So scary. :( :hug:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
seal harbor
Member Avatar
Administrator
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
I'm glad to hear that you, Mr. OTF and your 4 legged ones are fine.

great, wild fires, not just for the West Coast anymore. We have them here in Washington state as well but they are typically on the other side of the Cascades, I'm on the soggy side of the mountains.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Kikki
Member Avatar
It'll be an adventure! We're going on an adventure!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Oh my goodness! I am so glad everything worked out for you.

We once had to evacuate all the horses from the barn I was at I Jackson. A train had flipped over not far from the place and they were going to blow it up because it was containing some chemical that was highly toxic. The fumes were supposedly very toxic. We had 4 hours to move all 30 horses off the property. It was crazy! But I can't imagine having to leave when faced with a fire - with all your animals AND property at risk!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
headlesshorseman
Member Avatar
You're BANNED!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]

HOLY DONKEYS...I'm SO glad to hear you are OK..and that the animals are good too..

HH :)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
MyGiantPony
Member Avatar
Is the meadow on fire?
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Yikes! I'm glad it all worked out!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
DairyQueen2049
Member Avatar
DRAGON BREATH. DRAGGIN' BUTT
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
WOW OTF!!!!!

My heart is just pounding reading that!!

I had an asshat neighbor that started a grass fire a few years ago and I hd the hose and other neighbors were wapping at it with rugs - we routed it around the pasture......

Mr DQ had to call the local fore dept once when he started a grass fire.

Scarey stuff.

Hug all your donks and your hubby for me!!!!
:hug: :hug:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Buryinghill1
Member Avatar
You're BANNED!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Glad to hear y'all are well!
This is an eye opener for all of us with critters!


http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/hsus_disaster_center/

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
OnyxThePony
Member Avatar
You're BANNED!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
OMG!! So glad you and the kids are OK!!! What a terrible thing to have to deal with. The only way I've seen it effectively dealt with, in my neck of the woods, is the ploughed field. Twice I've seen fire officials have NO clue what to do, and in one case, actually GIVE UP when there were horses within 300 feet. And suppose you don't even have real official fire fighters, but volunteers, would they know what to do either?
In the first case, our BO ploughed the front of the field with his tractor. \The fire officials thought he was crazy BUT since he wasn't bothering anybody, the let him do it. That stopped the fire from getting to our horses (they were in halters and shanks ready to go!). This was about 400 feet from the fire.
In the other case, a friend's acerage had already caught, and he took his tractor (or bobcat?) and ploughed about 100 feet in front of the fire. This was VERY close to his horses. In this case, the fire officials actually gave up and were going to let the fire consume his house, barn, horses, etc. They started telling him he wasn't allowed to plough his field- then had to sit back as he just kept going. Imagine their surprise when he not only stopped the fire, but put it out with the plough. The fire officials were in fact stunned.

SO.. moral of the story (OK just kidding, I'm not preaching).. prepare yourself and don't rely on 'officials' :(
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
MissBri
Member Avatar
But, I don't care - it's 5:00 somewhere
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!

Thank God you and the animals are safe.

How utterly terrifying it must have been. And the aftermath is just as bad. Realizing just how vunerable you and your animals are.


HUGE HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
CDE Driver
Member Avatar
It'll be an adventure! We're going on an adventure!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Oh OTF, I'm so sorry you had such a close call! I'm glad everything turned out okay.

Living where I do we are very conscious of fire threat and have had to evacuate all the horses once. Since then I have an evacuation plan, written down. In the late spring I call the farms that have said they can take my horses (14) and just confirm with them. I pretty much leave my trailer hooked up all summer. We had very close calls the last two summers, but thankfully it didn't come close enough to be a real threat.

Of course in your case it was a complete surprise and not during the "normal" fire season.

Again, I'm so glad everything turned out well.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Nanelle
Member Avatar
I Visited Candy Mountain and All I Got Was This Lousy Incision
[ *  *  * ]
You are so oright OTF, the worst of all is feeling helpless and at risk... not knowing what to do or where to turn :huh:

Sometimes officials are not enough and you have to do what CDE Driver says, prepare and plan for an emergency :sigh:

So glad to hear everything is ok now :clap:

:hug: :rose:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Renn/aissance
Member Avatar
Hakuna matata!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
So glad that you and yours are all right.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Black Tack
Member Avatar
You're BANNED!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Oh my God OTF, I can't imagine how scarey that must have been. I am so glad that you and all of yours are ok :hug: :hug: :hug:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
jillincolorado
Member Avatar
You're BANNED!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
OTF!! :jaw: That's just scary! I'm glad things have settled and that you and that everyone is allright.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
ZetaBoards gives you all the tools to create a successful discussion community.
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · The Hay Loft · Next Topic »
Add Reply