Nearly 30 horses found burned to death by Creek fire in Sylmar

l a times ^ | 12/06/2017 | Brittny Mejia

[BenLurkin]

Amid the charred landscape of Little Tujunga Canyon Road in Sylmar on Wednesday stood the remains of Rancho Padilla and the carcasses of nearly 30 horses who died in the fast-moving Creek fire.

The Padilla family was there Wednesday morning, surveying the smoldering ranch that their father built more than 20 years ago. They somberly counted up the dead horses, whose charred bodies lined dozens of stalls. The family, who lives up the hill from the ranch, had awakened Tuesday to flames. One firetruck came and told them to leave.

“All I could think about was the horses, the horses, the horses. And they were like, ‘Get out, get out, get out,’ ” said Patricia Padilla, whose family owns the ranch. “The structures can get rebuilt, but the lives of the horses can’t. ... That’s my biggest heartbreak.”

The ranch, which boards horses, had more than 60 housed there, said Virginia Padilla, Patricia’s older sister. They put the count of dead horses at 29.

The family was familiar with each owner and would be calling them throughout the day to deliver the grim news and offer condolences.

On Wednesday morning, the smell of fire hung in the air and mixed with the odor of burned carcasses. Blackened horseshoes and traces of blood littered the stalls as a heavy silence blanketed the ranch. The stillness was broken only occasionally by the whinnies of a surviving horse and the crowing of a rooster.

Shelby Hope brought Oscar Martinez, a horse owner, and others up Wednesday morning to see whether the horses had survived and how she could help. She’s been coming to the ranch for about five years, to attend rodeos and spend time with friends.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

And then there is the fact that those idiots knew GD well that fire was headed their way for some time, maybe a day or two, before it arrived.

Amazing! The Creek Fire was reported to LAFD at 3:42AM Tuesday morning. The workers at the ranch awoke to the smell of smoke at 4AM, but already knew, apparently days before the fire department, that the fire was coming their way!

[crz]

Really? They could not have prevented those fires though could they. The freaks that inhabit that area cant let contractors go in and grind that brush along areas to help in prevention could they.

They not only knew in advance od days, that fire was on the way, they knew FOR MONTHS that fire was on the way.

Make some more excuses.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Maybe they could have hired a neighbor kid with a lawnmower!

[Bigg Red]

I know nothing about raising horses, but another poster said that the owners could have opened the stalls to let them at least have a chance to run away.

[T-Bone Texan]

I repeat what a better man than I said:

“You clearly have never been in a wind blown wildfire and you ought to shut the hell up on this thread.”

[American Quilter]

Part of it may be related to the environmental policies in the state.

When I moved to a forested area SW of Colorado Springs 25 years ago, it was heavily covered with brush in addition to the huge ponderosa pines. When some of my neighbors began to urge that we all clear the brush and small trees on our properties, I and others argued no. We loved the wild, natural look. That ended when the Waldo Canyon fire struck in 2012 and the Black Forest fire in 2013. People including me have now been working for years to clear our properties of that extremely dangerous brush. Nothing like a little reality to clear one's mind. Of course, we're conservatives, so we actually respond to reality.

[American Quilter]

That’s interesting to know. I’d been wondering about it since the last round of CA fire last summer.

[mad_as_he$$]

The fire in question here was spread by 60 mph winds and was consuming an acre a second. Try and wrap your head around that.

[Tijeras_Slim]

We have occasional grass fires on the Eastern Plains that move fast, but not like that. Hope never to see one.

[MarMema]

Yes, true. My point is that liberal states don't do good forest management during times without fires so that they are less deadly when they occur.

My neighbor and many friends are fire staff and chiefs.

Of course the other thing is that wildfire fighting is by design not to include structure saving.

[MarMema]

When some of my neighbors began to urge that we all clear the brush and small trees on our properties, I and others argued no. We loved the wild, natural look. That ended when the Waldo Canyon fire struck in 2012 and the Black Forest fire in 2013. People including me have now been working for years to clear our properties of that extremely dangerous brush. Nothing like a little reality to clear one's mind. Of course, we're conservatives, so we actually respond to reality.

THANK YOU. That is partly what I have been trying to point out. That good management beforehand might have been a great help.

[MarMema]

That’s faster than Yarnell Hill.

[ought-six]

USAA is a great insurance company.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

The state has nothing to do with it. That’s all federal property, the Angeles National Forest. It’s Interior Department responsibility, using federal tax dollars.

[pfflier]

Yup 46 years and nuthin’ better, or even comes close.

[crz]

Oh I havent hey Texican?

You know what you can do dont you. You and the sheep you Texicans ride on.

[MarMema]

The state manages it. I posted numerous links about it yesterday on another forum.

link here

California faces a critical need for wildland fire hazard reduction at a time when the state’s collective will and wherewithal to implement the needed fuel treatments are highly limited. Perhaps the greatest impediments to increased support for fuel management are the pervasive public misperceptions that wildfire is necessarily bad and that healthy, productive forests can be sustained without being managed. Some environmental organizations oppose all forms of forest management and suspect that any management involving tree removal constitutes resource exploitation. Many nonindustrial landowners and residents of forest intermix areas fail to implement needed fuel treatments because they view such management as conflicting with their preservationist values or are simply reluctant to invest in land improvements. Land management agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service have undergone repeated reductions in their land management budgets and related output targets. The wildfire suppression divisions of these agencies sometimes regard fuel management programs as being in competition with their own programs for funding. Air quality management agencies sometimes oppose the use of prescribed fire for fuel management because of its short-term environmental impacts.

Most importantly California policies govern the management - or mismanagement - of the wildfire "prevention".

Here in Michigan we fend off some 100 legal challenges/year from the EPA fruitloop Sierra Club pukes over our prescribed burns. 600 wildfires here last year and only 3000 acres burned. Why? Because we don't kow-tow to the envirowhackos and we still manage our forests by reducing fuel. And, btw, we have more forest than any other state in this country. So we know wildfires. We have 20 million acres of forest, and how often do you hear about our state having wildfires out of control? It's very very dry here except in August.

In California the Sierra club pukes run the show and they don't even try to manage the fuel, therefore when they have wildfires, they get worse and worse over time.

[MarMema]

The freaks that inhabit that area cant let contractors go in and grind that brush along areas to help in prevention could they.

You are absolutely correct. See my post just above.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Funny thing about that link you posted. If you scroll down to the map, you’ll see large white areas where Calfire doesn’t do fuel reduction. Those are the areas marked “federal jurisdiction.” That includes the Angeles National Forest, where this fire occurred.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

We have 20 million acres of forest, and how often do you hear about our state having wildfires out of control? It's very very dry here except in August.

First off, Michigan has about three times the average rainfall the Los Angeles area sees. It rains (or snows) there pretty much any month of the year, while Los Angeles sees basically none outside the January to March period. Nor is there the zero humidity, 90 degree, 50 mph Santa Ana winds howling down through the canyons from the high desert. Second, the vegetation of Michigan is not the highly combustible chaparral sage and manzanita that makes up the area. Finally, the terrain is wildly different. There are no canyons or steep slopes in Michigan. In fact, in the Angeles National Forest you can quite easily find more elevation difference between two points a quarter mile apart than exists between the low point (571 feet) and high point (1979 feet) in the entire state of Michigan. So don't be thinking it's an apples to apples comparison.