Saving structures and fighting flames fall under firefighters’ normal duties, but feeding ostriches — not so typical.
Yet, a crew from the Los Angeles area positioned near a pair of big birds added ostrich caretaking to their skills during the Lake Fire north of the Santa Ynez Valley.
The ostriches became the big story at the emergency operations center, Sarah Aguilar, the Animal Services director, told the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
“Everybody knew about the ostriches. They are fine,” she said. “We were able to access them, make sure they were fed.”
Two weeks after it started, the Lake Fire’s size sat at 38,664 acres with 73% containment, Capt. Scott Safechuck of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department said Friday, adding that the firefighting force fell to 2,055 people.
The cause remained under investigation, Safechuck said.
As the fire raged out of control toward ranches and residences on sprawling parcels in the days after its July 5 start, the Santa Ynez Valley livestock community rallied.
“They were amazing,” Aguilar said. “It was really cool to see the teamwork and just people coming together.”
In addition to community members, the county Agriculture Commissioner’s Office and the Santa Barbara County Cattlemen’s Association helped coordinate “large volumes of large animal evacuations,” such as ranches with 200 heads of cattle.
The fire coincided with unrelated events that filled some typical sites employed to house large livestock during previous emergencies.
Via social media, those safe from the advancing fire quickly offered trailers to help transport and space to shelter livestock for those displaced.
A horse show meant the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara wasn’t available.
Likewise, the Santa Barbara County Fair filled the Santa Maria Fairpark, so those facilities also could not house animals.
The Santa Maria Elks/Unocal Event Center, which also hosted the primary fire camp, did shelter 16 horses for a time.
To help during the emergency, Santa Barbara County officials launched a mutual aid form so people could connect with neighbors, and there were more than 120 responses.
“The offers of assistance outweighed the requests for assistance easily three-to-one,” Aguilar said.
An “Animals in the Lake Fire Zone” form sought various information about lost or stray pets in the fire zones, or animals that may be housed there and need care.
Specifically, the form asked for species and number of animals, names, addresses and dates last seen plus info about whether they were friendly or feral and their favorite food or treat.
In addition to helping with large livestock, the county and the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society assisted with dogs and cats needing temporary shelter when the owners were displaced because of the fire.
From his residence at the peak of the fire danger, David Hunsicker, president of the Santa Ynez Valley Equine Association, recalled seeing the traffic linked to the displaced humans and animals, including the stream of trucks pulling trailers.
“A tremendous number of horses came out of there,” Hunsicker said. “All them had a safe place, so that was good.”
At the Santa Ynez Valley Equestrian Association, the horses arrived and left depending on the threats to their homes. All of the sheltered guests had left by Wednesday.
“All things considered, it went well, and I consider us to be lucky nobody lost animals,” he added.
He estimated that six horses temporarily were housed at the facility. Many more pens were available but unused on the 22.5-acre site at 195 N. Roblar Ave.
“There’s a community within the equine community that knows where to take horses,” he said.
As the fire’s containment has grown, normalcy has returned. This week, the SYVEA facility hosted seminars for the National Reined Cow Horse Association.