STRANGERS HELP EQUESTRIAN COMMUNITY FACE CRISIS VOLUNTEERS SHOW UP WITH TRUCKS, TRAILERS TO AID IN EVACUATION OF HORSES FROM FIRE.

Byline: Andrea Cavanaugh Staff Writer

When Moorpark resident Jim Harris saw flames devouring the hills behind his ranch last weekend, his first instinct was to start loading the 22 horses on his property into trailers and flee.

Harris had a lot of company. He joined a caravan of trucks and horse trailers that filled the road leading out of the equestrian enclave of Happy Camp as firetrucks rumbled in to battle the flames.

Members of the tightly knit equestrian community banded together to help each other move their animals away from danger. Volunteers, some of them strangers, showed up with trucks and horse trailers to help as a wall of fire swept down from the north.

All in all, animal control officials estimate more than 2,000 horses were taken to safety, even though no specific plan was in place and many owners didn't know about two emergency evacuation centers set up for large animals.

``Without any prior knowledge about what to do or where to go, I think everybody did very well,'' Harris said.

Even as panicked neighbors evacuated horses, other ranch owners chose to hunker down and wait out the blaze with their animals.

At Bonn Fyre Farms in Moorpark, owner Dorann La Perch evacuated dogs, cats, potbellied pigs and parrots, but safely left behind dozens of horses and a 1,200-pound pet steer after consulting with fire officials months earlier about the best plan of action.

When the danger had passed, fire officials thanked her for leaving the animals on the property, from which dry brush had been aggressively cleared, La Perch said.

``They said people evacuating horses caused firefighters a lot of grief,'' she said.

At the R and R ranch near Happy Camp, where the dry brush had been cleared far beyond the required limits, more than 100 horses were unscathed after flames swirled around the 70-acre property.

Owner Roberta Warne watched neighbors hauling away their horses even as the blaze bore down on the only road leading out of the community.

``That was a big mistake,'' she said. ``They loaded their horses right in the midst of the fire and when it came down the hill, they were right in the middle of it.''

But fire officials are reluctant to criticize the frantic actions of horse owners whose animals are both beloved pets and valuable property.

``It had an impact, but I don't want to discourage people from taking those steps,'' said Mike Davidson, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

When the smoke cleared, it became apparent that some of the horse traffic could have been avoided.

Horses were evacuated from properties that were never directly threatened by flames. And Harris, whose ranch was unscathed, took his horses to a ranch in Somis only to learn hours later that the fire had spread to the edge of that property.

``It burned, too,'' he said. ``People were jumping out of the pot and into the fire.''

Armed with lessons hard learned in the fire, Harris will make changes to his ranch, such as installing sprinkler systems around corrals. But his responsibility to the owners of the 11 horses boarded at his ranch will always take precedence, he said.

``The fear factor was maybe worse than it needed to be, but next time, I'll do the same thing,'' he said. ``A lot of these people, their horses are their kids, their family. It's like trying to save your child.''

Andrea Cavanaugh, [phone]

andrea.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) A Simi Valley resident tries to calm down one of her horses at Ventura County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, after having moved the animal because of fire the previous Saturday.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer