Too Close For Comfort

Shit's getting real.

We've had record-breaking temperatures this week. July temperatures in the first week of May.

The fires that were about an hour and a half away from my area? They're now happening really close to home. 

This evening a barn that I used to board at was evacuated. They're 30 minutes from me. That area has a lot of stables in it, not to mention people that have horses in their backyards. The county is one of the most-highly horse populated areas in the country. 

Thankfully, due to the incredible horse community in this area, they were able to evacuate 60 horses in two hours. Other barns are on standby, clear for the moment but ready to go should the winds change. The Facebook groups are full of people ready to head out with their trailers to pick up horses or other livestock or offering a place to bring them to.

The area that my horses are in has so far been spared. There was one fire in the county this evening but it was quickly brought under control. 

That doesn't mean that the situation won't quickly change though. So I'm going into disaster preparation mode.

My Saturday will be spent prepping the trailer to be ready to head out as soon as I can hook up. I'm filling every haynet I own full of hay (we feed off of roundbales, so there are no squares that I can load up). I'll make sure that I have enough water buckets and feed tubs for two horses. The spare leather halters that I've had at home to be conditioned are going into the trailer which will save time going into my tackbox if needed. My spare trailer key is in my tackbox; should I not be able to get there fast enough but someone else can with a truck I can direct them to grab the key. The hitch will be in the trailer instead of with the truck for the same reason. 

I don't know if I have pictures that will be suitable for identification purposes, so I'll take some and make sure I include those little markings that only an owner would know about.

The biggest thing that's going to get resolved this week is Cisco's reluctance to load. It's going to get sorted out. I promise that he will be jumping on the trailer by next weekend. He may not get ridden all week, but he's going to be able to load.

I have no idea if the barn owner has an emergency plan in place. I've downloaded all the apps from the province and the county so that I hopefully get notifications, but I don't know how soon notifications are issued. I want to be informed at the first sign of potential concern, not when we are given a mandatory 30 minute evacuation notice. I'll hound her about what we can make work for everyone. 

I very much hope that all of these plans will be for naught. They are forecasting a bit of rain for the weekend, but it's going to take quite a drenching before the fire risk is significantly reduced. At the very least, I'm going to finally make sure that Cisco becomes reliable about trailering!