View from behind our home as we evacuated.
What we passed as we left the valley.
Please everyone, make sure you have contingency plans to evacuate your kennel if an emergency happens. On Tuesday we headed home from work and off in the distance was a large plume of smoke. As we got closer to the house our fears were realized. The fire was just behind our valley and the wind was blowing in our direction.
We live in a little valley north of Reno, accessible through a small mountain pass, leading to an oval shaped valley surrounded by BLM (Bureau of Land Management). All open land and lots of sagebrush, pinion and wild grasses. The hill behind our house is 7290 feet and it was ON FIRE.
I walked into the house and the phone was ringing. It was a fellow dog lover that said she was on her way over. She arrived in five minutes and said to load up. I said I was not going to go, the fire would not get that bad. At the same time Terry (my hubby) ran into town (about 30 min) to get sprinklers for the roof. As I waited I could see a line of 40 or more large fire rigs pull into the valley. The fire was raging on the top of the hill and starting its run down the front side of the mountain into our valley. By the time Terry had returned with the sprinklers, placed them on the roof and turned them on, the fire was sending fingers of flame into the sagebrush at the valley edge. Search and rescue came by and ordered a mandatory evacuation. We had two 400 knock down crates, two 300 knock down crates and several smaller crates to load all 10 dogs (one pregnant bitch), into two cars (a Jeep Cherokee and a S10 Blazer). With the help of my Sammy breeder friend, Donna Stroup, the remainder of important things were taken.
With the dogs now loaded, it is amazing what becomes important. I found the registration papers first, all the family and dog pictures, a pencil sketch of one of our first Aussies and his collar (JR is gone now), the computer and the dog food, vitamins and thyroid for two girls. We were now officially evacuated. We placed seven dogs with Patty at Lo Nevada and three with another Aussie friend, Lori McClelland of Gottabe Aussies (that is where the 'Evacuation Picture' was taken).
When we left the valley there were horse/stock trailers lined up for 1 1/2 miles coming into the valley empty, and those that were loaded stretched 1 1/2 miles leaving the valley. The feeling to see so much help show up was overwhelming. It is amazing how animal people help each other. A lot of the people coming in with the trailers didn't even know anyone in our valley, they just knew they were needed. Even my vet called to see if we needed kennel space.
Once the dogs were relocated, we came back around midnight and watched the fire burn our valley. It looked like hundreds of campfires glowing on the hill and around the valley, heavy smoke filled the air and burned our lungs. We knew then that our home would probably be saved from the fire, and we would be safer elsewhere, so we went back to be with the dogs until we all could return the following day.
The fires on the hill glowed for days. With the brush and pinion burned, the groundcover was gone, ash and dust blew around the valley in dust devils for weeks. The smell of smoke and fire lasted quite a while. The dogs are getting back to normal, coughing because of the smoke and ash. My body and mind are tired, but I know where my priorities lie, and we are just grateful to still having the house, that the dogs are safe. We can never begin to thank our "dog friends" enough for being there when we really needed them.
Scary guys................make plans!
This was an e-mail that I sent to the Aussie-L. I did receive a few other suggestions:
Make 5x7 cards with each dogs name, description, medications, temperament (I have one that is shy and stresses easily, one that will nip if pushed, etc.).
Have copies of your papers, Cerfs, OFAs all in one place.
Make sure to have vet type slip leads for each dog (looking for leashes and chokes takes a lot of time when you are in a hurry. I don't keep collars on my dogs.)
Thought I would throw in one more group picture. This picture was taken after the "Fire Evacuation". This is in August the puppies were not born and Hazel was shy, so there are only 10 dogs at the gate. My they do like attention!