Humans in Ventura County are frantically helping their horses evacuate the area due to the rapidly spreading Mountain Fire, which broke out Wednesday morning.
The blaze was first reported just before 9 a.m. near the 7900 block of Balcom Canyon Road near Bradley Road between the communities of Moorpark and Somis, north of the 118 Freeway.
Flames quickly spread over the 118 Freeway and began threatening the Camarillo Heights neighborhood of Camarillo within about two hours.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for area residents, some of whom own large animals such as horses.
A woman who lives in Simi Valley but boards her horses in the area said she walked three of hers down from a property to Balcom Canyon Road so that it could be loaded into trailers and taken to safety.
They had a police escort as they maneuvered through the smoke and flames, which were so intense that they couldn’t see where they were walking. She even sustained a minor hand injury due to one of the spooked horses.
“We had 12 on their property [but] only had trailer space for about nine of them,” she said. “But there were flames on the property, so we had to walk them down about a mile or two.”
“If [the police escort] wasn’t there, we would have had no idea what was on the other side of the smoke,” she added.
The woman, who is not a California native and moved her horses to the ranch just months ago, continued on to express concern that there are many ranches in the area that may still have hundreds of horses on the properties.
“I don’t know how many horses are out there but there are so many on each of the properties,” she said. “So, you will see trailers going by that are all full of horses, and everyone is just trying their best and helping out where they can…and we’ll just have to figure it all out.”
She stated that she was grateful for members of the community – some of whom she doesn’t know – who brought their own horse trailers to the property to assist with the bovine evacuations.
Those who own large animals are advised to take them to the Ventura County Fairgrounds, located at 10 East Harbor Boulevard in Ventura. Smaller animals can be taken to Ventura County Animal Services, which is located at 600 Aviation Drive in Camarillo.
An evacuation shelter for humans has been set up at Padre Serra Parish, located at 5205 Upland Avenue in Camarillo.
As of 12:30 p.m., Ventura County fire officials estimated that the fire stood at about 1,500 acres. It is being fueled by incredibly strong Santa Ana winds, which have peaked in some areas at 80 miles per hour.
Click here for the latest information on evacuations. Full Mountain Fire coverage can be found at this link.
Humans in Ventura County are frantically helping their horses evacuate the area due to the rapidly spreading Mountain Fire, which broke out Wednesday morning. The blaze was first reported just before 9 a.m. near the 7900 block of Balcom Canyon Road near Bradley Road between the communities of Moorpark and Somis, north of the 118 […]
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