A young horse is being a hailed a hero as CA wildfires continue to rage and cause destruction. The Easy Fire in Southern California ignited around 6 AM on Wednesday. In a matter of hours, the fire scorched over 1,300 acres . High winds and dry conditions have made matters worse, and firefighters are struggling to contain the flames. Families evacuated their homes, businesses and schools shut down, and the Reagan Library is surrounded by walls of fire. Evacuations are ongoing, and horse owners in Simi Valley are rushing to save their animals.
A Hero of a Horse
With flames racing toward a large horse stable, ranch hands and Good Samaritans worked together to corral panicked horses and transport them to safety. In a dramatic video taken Wednesday morning, we can see an intense situation where horses are confused and scared. There are people and horses cloaked in smoke and everyone rushes to escape. One of the horses breaks free from the crowd and rushes back toward the burning stable. The camera follows the horse through a cloud of smoke, and onlookers assume the scared horse is simply panicking.
But through the haze, we can see the runaway horse meet up with a mare and her foal lost in the chaos. The runaway horse leads the mother and foal back onto the road where rescuers take over. Rescuers halter the horses and eventually transport them to safety. According to KCBS, all of the horses from this farm were saved except for one. A 28-year-old mare broke her two front legs fleeing from the flames, and rescuers were forced to euthanize her on scene.
CA Wildfires
The Easy Fire is only one of the wildfires currently burning in California. The Getty Fire in Los Angeles sparked when high winds carried a tree branch into a city power line. There’s also the Hillside Fire that broke out early Thursday and has already burned homes in San Bernardino.
Thousands of firefighters from 10 different states are working around-the-clock to contain the fires, but high winds and dry weather are working against them. While they risk their lives, people and animals are constantly moving out of the fire’s path. There’s still no estimate to when the fires will be under control. The National Weather Service also issued its first-ever “extreme red flag warning” for areas in Southern California that are experiencing 70 mph wind gusts, low humidity, and an extreme fire threat. The National Weather Service said in their announcement,
“This all adds up to an extreme fire weather threat, meaning that conditions are as dangerous for fire growth and behavior as we have seen in recent memory.”
