Emergency animal evacuation

What would you do in an emergency?

Many years ago an approaching fire had us trying to find a way off this mountain for our horses. We didn't have a trailer and were trying to decide if the then 12 year old could ride them out. The fire was far away at this point, we were NOT on evacuation alert. But had been told that if the fire kept going as it was, we would be next to be put on evacuation alert. Neighbours were mobilizing, even though we were not in immediate danger.

If we have the luzury of notice, we now have a trailer and could get the horses out. However, in the event of a CLOSE fire starting, considerng how heavily treed we are, I doubt our horses would have the time to be loaded in a trailer. Plus the only truck we own that is trailer equipped is Hubby's and it's at work with him during the day.

So this is my plan. In the event of a flash fire I would grab a can of spray paint, spray my name and phone number on the horses, and turn them out CLOSING the gate behind them. My HOPE is that they would have the sense to go where they needed to save themselves. Same with the birds. I would turn them OUT and LOCK THEM OUT of their building. They say horse will run INTO a burning barn, don't know if that's true but don't want my horses standing in their tree filled pen while it goes up in flames!

Have any of you had to turn your animals loose and hope they survived? Did they? What plans have you made for flood, fire, earthquake, famine or a rise in taxes?

We had a grass fire just west of us a year or so ago and I was wondering the same thing. If the wind would have changed direction and come towards us what would I do?
I think a lot of people around here do what you say, cut fences and turn the large animals loose. The cattle should run away, as well as the horses. The sheep I would worry about, they are not fit enough to run for long periods and not the smartest either. If I had the luxury of time I would load them in the trailer, load up the dogs and cats and head out. Letting the cattle and horses run for it.
As for the chickens, well not much anyone could do unless you loaded them all up. Opening doors/pens would get them out of their buildings but I almost wonder if they would be safer inside, most of our buildings are tinned, hoping that would make a bit of a difference and hopefully the fire would go around them...

Good question. I've read that not that many wild animals are killed in forest fires, most know enough to get out of the way. Are domestic animals that sensible?

I have big open fields and think my animals would be much safer at home than careening down the road. I'd trailer my 4 or 6 favourite horses, the dogs and maybe my pet sheep and let the rest manage on their home fields. Open all the gates on the grass fields so they can move within that area.

Put on the irrigation sprinklers and let it rip.

Dogs and cats in crates and in the truck. Everyone else loose. I love your spray paint idea, Uno. Just a cell number should be enough.

.

I can see you've put a lot of thought into this, Higgins, having lived through it more than once!

For each of us the plan would be different as we all live in such diverse surroundings. Here, on this mountainside, there are no grass lands, no open pasture anywhere that I could put the horses in and hope they would be safe. We are forested everywhere. One way up this hill, one way off.

WIth advance notice, things would go better. But sudden emergency, we'd be in trouble. We will never flood, ha ha, water runs downhill! But fire...all of us up here are in serious trouble. Spray paint and a prayer. Not the best plan but the best I could do as the seconds tick away.

We sure had to do this in Australia, bad fires every summer there. You just hoped it wasn't your turn.

In a big fire, it doesn't matter how big your paddocks or fields are, you will lose animals. It is best to open all the gates and hope you get them home again. They have the sense to get away from fire, but not if fences are holding them in.

We had a hose system set up to try and save the house if it came to that. All the horses and cattle close would get put in the cattle yards. Nothing to burn in that large, bare area with all steel construction. In a bad season I would have all my precious things already boxed up and ready to shove in a truck with the dogs on the back and we would be outa there. I have to say the chooks probably would have been on their own, they were right at the cattle yards anyways.

We have had some very bad fires close to us, but we never had to actually put our plan into play. The Firestorm in Canberra was one of the worst I have ever heard of. Lots of horses had to be put down because there was NO warning at all, it just stormed into the city and outskirts a considerable speed.

Here, I am lazy. The creek could flood, and has a bit, but not scary. Our house is to high to be impacted, but I have had to move the horses around a bit. I just don't have a plan here. I suppose there could be a fire as we are well forested, but I think there would be lots of warning and we have lots of cleared areas close.

We lived through 3 evacuations in 2003 during the McLure Wildfire. It was the six weeks of hell on earth here. We were not well prepared as we did not even have fuel in the truck or propane in the travel trailers tanks. The North Thompson Valley was not prepared very well either because all our hydro comes from Kamloops as do the phone lines. The fire brought down all the hydro lines and phone lines. With no hydro we could not get fuel for our truck, but a friend lent us a propane tank from their trailer. This tank we hooked into the truck's fuel line and at 5 km per hour we eventually made it up the big climb west of Little Fort to Bridge Lake.

We had no way of taking the aniamls with us and wrestled with turning them loose or leaving them where they were. The cows were left in a small yard with feed and a full water trough. Livestock evacuations weere organized and we came back a couple days later for the cows and chickens. Search and Rescue had fed them, watered the chickens and the irrigation ditch suddenly had water for the cows. The fire came to about a km away to the west and south of here. Embers burned through the roof of our Costco garage, but it did not catch fire.

In looking back if it were to happen again we would probably put everything in the middle of a cleared field and hopefully hook up the water pump. The valley is still not prepared after 10 years as all hydro and telecom comes up the valley from Kamloops on a single set of poles.

We live down a logging road, surrounded by crown land. There are 4 houses out here. Nothing else but forest and the wild blue yonder. Perfect for our lifestyle.

Our first friends up this way were Greg and Cindy and they have horses and acreage as well, so we immediately asked them, if we ever had a fire, could we bring our horses there.
In September, while I was at work a forest fire had broken out just over a mile from home in the forest.
My wife woke up to nothing but smoke everywhere, and after talking to me, she called Greg and asked for that favour.

Having 4 horses and only a 3 horse and a 2 horse trailer, with me an hour away, she had to leave one horse behind in case she wasn't let back in.
Greg's neighbours, who have a pair of Belgians, were informed we were bringing our horses over, offered for us to bring all our livestock except the goats. OK, so they're goat snobs, but still, it was a generous offer considering they don't know us.

Shannon of course made the decision on which horse to leave behind, gathered up the dogs, and started on trip number one.

My neighbourhood had picked up and extra pump for the well for me, and had laid hundreds of yards of firehose across the yard.
Other friends were called by him and we had a small army to battle a blaze and try and save our houses.
It was impressive having all these regular folks ready to battle a blaze that wasn't jeopardizing their own possessions.
I brought home my cube van in case we needed to load up as many possessions as we could.

Helicopters were pulling water out of the river down the road from us, so fighting it was quick. It still went from 2 hectares to over 20 in less than an hour.
By the time I got home, the blaze was contained, but we were thankful that we had laid out these plans ahead of time.
We were also thankful for all the help that was offered from so many people.
We left the horses at Greg's overnight until we were sure the fire wouldn't take off again.

A reminder that those animals that load easily are the ones who "win" in the end!

I'm always glad when I have halter broken my best cows and sheep.

A reminder that those animals that load easily are the ones who "win" in the end!

I'm always glad when I have halter broken my best cows and sheep.

Yes. We have halter broken most of our Highland cattle since the McLure fire. One or two had been loaded a couple times before which helped. We actually got compliments on how easy they were to load after the first loading. It took several years to get rid of the warts that they picked up during their travels.