People in Ventura County are desperately trying to help horses evacuate the area as a wildfire that started Wednesday morning spread rapidly.
The fire was first reported just before 9 a.m. near the 7900 block of Balcom Canyon Road, north of Highway 118 and near Bradley Road between the communities of Moorpark and Somis.
The flames quickly spread to Highway 118 and within about two hours began threatening the Camarillo Heights neighborhood of Camarillo.
A mandatory evacuation order was issued for local residents, some of whom had large animals such as horses.
A woman who lives in Simi Valley but rides horses in the area said she walked from the property to Balcom Canyon Road to load the three horses into a trailer and transport them to safety.
They were escorted by police as the smoke and flames became so intense that it was difficult to see where they were walking. She even suffered a minor injury to her hand from one of the creepy horses.
“They had 12 on their property.” [but] “We only had space for about nine trailers,” she said. “But we had to walk about a mile or two because there was a fire on the property.”
“if [the police escort] “If I hadn’t been there, I would have had no idea what was on the other side of the smoke,” she added.
Horses evacuated due to wildfires on November 6, 2024. Ventura County, California.
The woman, who is not from California, moved her horses to a ranch just a few months ago, but continued to express concerns about the many ranches in the area that may still have hundreds of horses on their property. .
“I don’t know how many horses there are, but there are a lot of horses on each property,” she said. “So you’ll see trailers full of horses go by, and everyone’s just doing their best and helping out in any way they can… and we need to make sense of it all. .”
She said she is grateful to people in the community, some of whom she doesn’t know, who brought their own horse trailers onto the property to help with the evacuation.
Those with large animals are encouraged to take them to the Ventura County Fairgrounds, located at 10 East Harbor Boulevard in Ventura. Small animals can be taken to Ventura County Animal Services at 600 Aviation Drive in Camarillo.
The human shelter is located at Padre Serra Parish, 5205 Upland Avenue in Camarillo.
Ventura County Fire officials estimated the fire area to be about 1,500 acres as of 12:30 p.m. It’s being accelerated by incredibly strong Santa Ana winds, reaching up to 130 mph in some areas.
Please check here for the latest information regarding evacuation. The full Mountain Fire article can be found at this link.
