San Diego Fires Firsthand: Recovery

Follow along with horse owner and magazine publisher Cheryl Erpelding as she recounts her experience keeping her family and horses one step ahead of the flames as wildfires race across Southern California.

The Souther

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Follow along with horse owner and magazine publisher Cheryl Erpelding as she recounts her experience keeping her family and horses one step ahead of the flames as wildfires race across Southern California.

The Southern California fires of 2007 have destroyed about 1,500 homes and burned more than 700 square miles across five counties, from Ventura in the north all the way into Mexico. Witnesses on the ground have likened the scale of the damage to Hurricane Katrina.

While residents and veterinarians are just starting to be allowed access to the burned areas, preliminary reports indicate that the vast majority of horse owners evacuated promptly. Veterinarians in the area have indicated that the reaction is likely a result of lessons learned after string of similar fires ravaged the area in 2003 and left dozens of horses dead and hundreds abandoned.

Read more about the fires.

Follow along with Cheryl Erpelding, CEO of Riding’s Publications Inc. based in San Diego, Calif., and publisher of California Riding Magazine, as she recounts her experience.














The Story Unfolds… 



About the Author

Cheryl Erpelding is CEO of Riding’s Publications Inc. based in San Diego, Calif., and publisher of California Riding Magazine. Her Web sites are








JUMP TO THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY:
Post 1: Not a Normal Day
 
 



Post 3–Nov. 21: Recovery Update

We survived the worst wildfire disaster to ever hit San Diego County. We moved the horses back on Thursday, Oct. 25th.

Buena Brisa in Rancho Santa Fe, where Kate West trains, was completely lost. Also Carolyn Hunter’s Del Cielo Arabians barn in Ramona was lost. I’m still trying to confirm whether or not horses were lost there. One worker stated that four horses died, but again I have not gotten confirmation on that from Carolyn or Rhonda Dunn who lived in a small apartment in the barn.

Creek Hollow, Ballena Vista, and North Arabians in Ramona lost their main homes but the rest of the facilities are okay. In the Lake Hodges area Julia Erickson’s Freedom Song Andalusians lost everything but the barn. They were burned out in the 2003 Cedar Fire when they lived in Julian. Blue Fox Farm lost their upper barn. These are just some of the losses in San Diego County.

I’ve been speaking with several vets and it is believed that the numbers of horses lost will be small. I’ll send a report when I can get word on that. Several horses are reported burned from the Witch fire. Again, I don’t have numbers yet.

When these fires start, it is amazing that horse folks with horse trailers hook up and get out to help all of those that are in need. Most know that when it comes to horses and wild fires you just need to get them out early. But it is still amazing that some horse owners will not invest in training their horses to lead and load in a horse trailer. If you love your horses, please train them to load in a trailer.


Post 2–Wednesday Morning, Oct. 24: Watching the Wind

It is still windy with fires south, west, and north of us. The Santa Ana winds are due to subside, and as the day goes by they are doing just that. The worries now are that when the winds change from offshore to onshore and blow toward the east, we will have new areas that will be threatened. The total acreage gone is 300,000 acres in San Diego county alone–11% of the county. The costs are a billion dollars. More than 560,000 people have been evacuated to date. I would have to guess 20,000 horses were moved. Many were unable to be rescued. A thousand or more homes have been destroyed. We wait and pray that it will all end soon

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Written by:

Cheryl is CEO Riding’s Publications Inc. and started her publishing business in Dec. 1986. San Diego County Riding Magazine was an 8-page startup with a press run of 2,500 copies. She hand drew her logo, typeset and shot her printing plate negatives with a graphics arts camera in her garage. Riding’s Publications is a million dollar plus company that publishes California Riding Magazine, (20-23,000 copies per month), California Horseman’s Directory, Sport Horse Stallion Directory and provides design services for California’s horse industry. She currently shows Riding Magazine’s Hot Off the Press in the hunter division.

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