Pet Owners: Have A Crate Or Car Big Enough For Your Pet In Case of Emergency

[morgandawn]

Always make certain you have enough pet crates and vehicles large enough to evacuate your animals in case of emergency.

“When they departed in a rush, they had been unable to fit their large St. Bernard, Stinky, in the car. “He followed us for a few miles, then we had to speed away and we lost him,” Candlario recalls.

He had tweeted a social media plea for neighbors to watch out for the dog but was overjoyed to find upon his return that Stinky was waiting at the ranch house.

“There he was,” says Candlario. “I can only imagine what he had to go through to find his way back during that fire.”

“http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0914/Amid-destruction-of-California-s-Valley-fire-moments-of-deep-gratitude“

#pets #DWCrosspost #Emergency Preparedness

 

Comments

[codyne]

Oh, I remember the first time I had to evacuate, I only had two cat carriers and three cats, so I quickly had to improvise a third carrier out of a cardboard box (fortunately, I keep all my cardboard for recycling, and don't get to the recycling center very often, so I always have various sizes of broken-down cardboard boxes around). One of the first things I did after we got settled in at my brother's place was to go into town and buy a third cat carrier.

But I had no way to evacuate my giant goldfish, so sadly I lost them in the second fire.

I'm glad their St. Bernard survived! But the poor alpacas... you just can't save everything, no matter what you do. Unless you don't have anything in the first place. One reason I haven't tried to replace everything I lost in the fire... I don't want to take the chance of losing it all again.

[morgandawn]

I was struggling to imagine a car so small it could not hold 2 people + 1 St Bernard. A VW Bug? Even my teeny Honda HB could manage a huge sheepdog. We'd not be able to take anything or anyone else tho.

But yes, so much livestock had to be left behind. The one fire popped up in the afternoon and the evac orders took a few hours and by then it was too late for some people. Awesome Merc article here

http://www.mercurynews.com/california-wildfires/ci_28813588/family-recounts-harrowing-hours-before-being-rescued-from

[codyne]

Yeah, that did seem odd that they couldn't get their St Bernard into the car. It did say they packed the car first -- probably no room after the stuff they decided was more important. Or they just didn't think about the dog when they started packing -- it's easy to say now what they should have done, but when someone tells you "a fire's coming, get out NOW!" your mind doesn't always work as well as it should. I made stupid mistakes both times, left behind stuff I meant to take, brought stuff I have no idea why I grabbed.

That story is amazing. How frightening that must have been! And horrible to sit there and watch their house burn down. I'm glad all the people got out safely.

The Canyon Fire, the one that got my house, was like that, too -- the wind was so high, and it kept changing, so the firefighters couldn't get behind it. They'd start laying down a containment line, then the wind would change direction and blow the fire away from them again. I'm glad I left before mandatory evacuations were called -- I saw the smoke over the hill and started packing, just in case. An hour later, fire trucks pulled into my driveway and my mom's and they told me they'd stay and try to save our houses. I said I was all packed and ready to go, and they said they thought we should go now, so we did. Later, after the fire, they stopped by my mom's place where I was staying and told me they were sorry they couldn't save my place. They said the fire came over the hill so strong and so fast they had no choice but to leave.

My neighbors down the road, who stayed through the fire and fortunately survived and saved their house, said they saw trees ripped from the ground and thrown 50 feet in the air by the winds from the firestorm.

These fires in the north sound like the same sort of thing, only on a much larger scale. The forests are so dry from the drought and the bark beetles, they're full of dead trees and dry brush, it only takes a tiny spark and a good wind and nothing can stop it.

We are very, very fortunate that there was no wind when this latest fire started last week. It was only a few miles away, but with no wind, it didn't go anywhere, and they were able to get a containment line around it right away and hold it to only 45 acres.

[morgandawn]

"This particular fire spread so incredibly fast. Don`t know how it started but I heard it was a spark from a stump grinder. That`s all it takes. Living here,and knowing the area so well,the thought that the fire could start where it did at 1:30 PM and reach Cody and Jessica`s house by 6:30 is just mind boggling. That is talking quite a distance away. People are saying that when they were told that the fire would reach them in an hour,it actually was only 15 minutes. It has even taken the firefighters by surprise."