EVACUATION

California issues

I have lived in California most of my life, having grown up in and around Monterey, moving to the Sierra Foothills, Sacramento and surrounding areas, and finally outside of Marysville.  I am familiar with earthquakes and wildfires, as is any long-term resident of this state, but I finally experienced my first evacuation due to wildfires.  A few years back, we were under mandatory evacuation orders for the Oroville Dam debacle, but chose to stay.  Three years ago my family had to evacuate for fires, but I was deployed to Hurricane Harvey relief, so I missed that.  This time was different.

The Bear Fire

All day Tuesday we watched as what was called the Bear Fire crept closer to our house.  As we went outside, we could see in getting closer and closer.  At about 9pm we decided to pack things up to be ready to go, and by 1030, we knew we needed to get the animals out.  Our livestock trailer isn’t big enough to haul everyone out at once and the fire was getting close enough that we could see the flames.  We have a mini-stock trailer, maybe 8 feet long.  It’s fantastic for taking a handful of goats to shows in Oregon or California, but for moving 19 goats, three alpacas, and two livestock guardian dogs, less than ideal.  We decided time might be short so we would fit as many animals as possible into the trailer, run them to the fairgrounds and come back for more.

The Bear Fire is getting closer .

How many animals will fit?

We fit 15 does and wethers (castrated males) into the trailer.  I’m not going to lie, those goats were packed in there, but the evacuation point was only about 30 minutes away, and we thought better they were crammed in then be left behind.  We loaded the livestock guardians in the back of the truck (it has a shell on it), the pet dog into the cab of the truck, all six cats into the Jeep Patriot, and the tortoises in the Prius.  We pulled into the fairgrounds with all three vehicles.  We unloaded the goats first and checked the cats and tortoises into the cat rescue area.  There was nowhere yet to drop the dogs, so they stayed in the truck.  My BFG and I went back for the bucks and the alpacas.

Our trailer is actually quite small, but perfect in a non-evacuation situation.

Second load

By this time, the Willow Fire had started and as we raced back to our house, we could see the wall of flames.  I found myself terrified, but not panicky.  We got home and could see the flames to the east and north, and, in the dark, they appeared VERY close.  We realized that while we had packed up the alpaca halters, we had left them in the Jeep at the fairgrounds.  Our job of getting these animals just got harder.  We decided to use a “hallway” we had built into the fences that we call the DMZ as a chute to herd the bucks into the trailer.  This worked great with three of our bucks, but the fourth was more difficult and we had to chase him around a bit in the dark and choking smoke before he decided to cooperate.  We closed the boys in the trailer and started trying to herd the alpacas.

In the dark, all these animals could see was our head torches coming at them.  Along with the suffocating smoke filling the air, they had to be terrified, and they just refused to go into the chute we had created.  We were almost ready to give up and leave them behind when they all ran into the DMZ and we herded them into the trailer.  We closed the door on them, jumped in the truck, took one last look at the flames bearing down, and left, wondering if we would ever see our house again.

Long day

We made it back to the fairgrounds and unloaded goats and alpacas.  Someone had come to take in dogs, so we got all three dogs checked into the dog rescue at 4:30 in the morning.  My BFB had checked us all in and we were told to put our tents up where we could find a spot.  My BFG and I put the tents up behind the cars, set up sleeping bags and mattresses and crawled in to try to sleep at about 6am.  Dang, what a long day.

Animals in the evacuation barn.

The things you need

As is maybe to be expected, I was unable to do much more than doze.  The same was true for my BFG.  My BFB was luckier in that she got a couple of hours.  None of the bathrooms at the fairgrounds had been unlocked when we crawled into the tents, but now, an hour and a half later, I thought they might be open.  I was fixing to bust regardless.  It was going to be a bathroom or a bush at this point.  Luckily, someone had unlocked a bathroom.  When I came back, I told my BFG I was hungry and he agreed that he was as well.  We decided to go on a search for some food.  We also needed more buckets, as we didn’t have enough to make sure all the goats and alpacas could have enough to drink.  We went to buy buckets and get food and coffee.

Moving again

While we were purchasing necessities, the manager of the fairgrounds informed everyone at about 10am that we would need to move all our animals and be off fairground property by noon.  Cal Fire wanted to use the fairgrounds as a staging point.  We were told to move to the parking lot across the street.  This was frustrating and discouraging, but we got to work.  We had to move the animals from one set of barns to another.  This was not convenient, as neither goats nor alpacas walk on a leash very well and it was about four or five barns away.  We did manage to get everyone moved.  I actually left after moving most of the animals to dismantle our tents.  At this point, there were only our two tents and two or three RVs left.  The manager of the fairgrounds drove by in his golf cart and blasted on the loudspeaker that we needed to leave by noon.  It was about 15 minutes before noon and I had been going almost nonstop since 5am the previous morning.  I was starting to lose my cool at this point, but kept it together long enough to get everything packed into the Prius and drive it across the street to the parking lot to which I had been instructed to go.  My daughter had come up to help us with animals or anything we might need and she was a huge help, especially with food and moral support.

This is it!

As I attempted to pull into the parking lot to which I’d been directed, a Red Cross worked stopped me and told me I couldn’t come in.  Exhaustion, fear, hunger, and a whole bunch of other emotions were roiling around in my head and my control was on shaky ground at this point.  She informed me Cal Fire determined they needed this spot as well and we would need to drive down Garden Highway for a spot.  I told her my family was finishing moving our animals and were to meet me here, could I come in until they arrived?  She said I could stay for 10 minutes or so, but would then need to leave.  I texted my BFG and BFB and told them we were AGAIN being displaced.  And I lost it.  I proceeded to swear and rage because I simply didn’t know what else to do.  This would be the third (fourth if you counted the evacuation area we were first supposed to go to before that closed and we were directed to the fairgrounds) time they had moved us and all I wanted was some food and rest.  I’d LIKE a little certainty that we’d have a place to go to when this was over, but crikey!

 The rows of evacuee animals.  Ours are closest to the camera.

It turns out we wouldn’t need to go far to the third evacuation area, down the street and maybe only a half a mile from where we were in the parking lot.  Due to COVID restrictions, there was no evacuation center.  They set us up in a large dirt field.  We parked our cars, used the newly installed porta-potties, and finally had something to eat.  Just that sandwich made me feel better.  My daughter offered me her house for a shower and nap.  My BFG and BFB bought hay and took naps themselves.  I came back to the dirt lot we were now calling home.

Us in the livestock barn.  Waiting.  Stressed.

Livestock barns

The next day we spent at the livestock barns, as we really didn’t know what else to do.  We fed, watered and cleaned up after our animals and just hung out, each of us thinking our own thoughts.  For my part, I was grateful we had gotten everyone out safely and grateful that so many people were showing us such kindness.  I really didn’t think about the potential loss, just filled with gratitude and worry for people or animals that may not have gotten out.  That evening, we decided to go back to our house if the roads were open to do so.  We had heard they were, and our answering machine was still picking up, so we knew our house was still standing.  A good tip if you ever find yourself in this situation.  If you have an actual answering machine, call your house.  If your answering machine comes on, you still have power and your house is okay.  The smoke was thick and it was strange with no animals, but we chose to take showers and sleep in our own house.  We could still see the fire from the house, but it was much smaller than the night we left, so we felt okay.  On Friday, they lifted evacuation orders and we were able to come home.  Since this wasn’t an emergency situation, we took three loads of livestock, a truckload of dogs and a Jeep-load of cats home, for a total of four trips, three in the truck and trailer, and one in the Jeep.  It was such a relief.

 Ash is piled up everywhere.

Home

The fire was still visible on Saturday, but the Willow Fire is now 92% contained and the Bear Fire, now called the North Complex West is 26% contained.  We feel better about staying home and have unloaded our belongings from the Prius.  This experience has been exhausting and scary, and now that it’s mostly over, I feel an emotional wreck, although I managed to hold it together pretty well until now.

Everyone is happy to be home even though the smoke is thick enough to taste.

So very grateful

I am overwhelmed by the offers of support and help we have received at this oh so difficult time.  My boss offered her house for us and her neighbors offered to keep and feed our animals.  So many others stepped in and offered us places to stay and help with our menagerie of critters.  I will never be able to fully express my gratitude to anyone.  I am grateful beyond any words I can find.