Community Rescues Horse Trapped in Crevice in Los Angeles Wildfire

A resident holds a leaking hose on his burning property during the Creek Fire on Dec. 5, 2017, in California. (David McNew/Getty Images)

A news reporter found a horse upside down at the bottom of a crevice while reporting on the Creek Fire that is spreading through California.

The horse was escaping the fire in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles when it fell into the crevice.

Fox 11 reporter Gina Silva posted pictures and video of the horse to social media and asked for help. The trapped horse was also aired on live television. The incident caught the attention of a veterinarian, who tranquilized the horse, and the locals helped break down the structure the horse had fallen between and firemen helped get the horse out of the ditch and to an evacuation center, according to Silva’s Fox 11 report.

The horse was then taken to an animal hospital, where it is recovering, according to Silva’s Instagram account.

Many horses did not make it out alive. Twenty-nine horses died at a ranch in Sylmar, the Los Angeles Times reported. The family that built the ranch more than 20 years ago was forced to flee the property when a fire crew arrived the morning of Dec. 5.

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

The family housed more than 60 horses from various owners. They called owners of the dead horses to inform them of the news after returning to the property, according to the Times.

The Creek Fire continues to burn through southern California, along with three other large wildfires. The Skirball Fire is closing in on heavily populated areas of Los Angeles, ABC News reported.

The largest of the fires, the Thomas Fire, is crawling toward Santa Barbara. It was the first among the recent fires, beginning the night of Dec. 4 as a brushfire. More than 5,000 firefighters have been deployed to combat all of these fires. A smaller fire in San Bernardino is entirely contained, according to ABC News.

The cause of the fires and the difficulty with containing them is attributed to the Santa Ana winds. The winds create the seasonally dry conditions that these fires thrive on. The high speed, hot winds help the fires grow, according to CNN.

From NTD.tv

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