Oasis Camel Dairy
Thursday, February 28, 2008
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Oasis Camel Dairy
Thursday, February 28, 2008 |
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Here is the story of the fire as written by Nancy. When the fire started we were on our way to the Arizona state fair with our Turkey Stampede Show. I returned to fight the fire while Nancy drove to Arizona to perform with the animals. To all the friends and family of the Oasis Camel Dairy.
WWW.CAMELDAIRY.COM is temporarily pointing to this emergency information. The fires have knocked the phones out. This may be the only way to let everyone know how the dairy is.
First and foremost - everyone is alive and well. Every person and every last animal down to the gold fish in the pond!
The fire started around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 21. It hit the Dairy around 1:00.
Both Gil and I had left the Dairy at 11:00 under clear skies bound for Phoenix with theTurkey Stampede Show. We drove two vehicles: one w/ the turkey show and one w/ our travel trailer.
Luckily, Teri, who works for us and my sister, Gail, who's family also lives in Ramona, saw the smoke and headed for our facility.
Teri, her husband Bill and Gail got through to the property before the road was closed by the Sherrif. Both girls telephoned Gil and I.
Alison and Lori, who also work for us, tried to get up to the ranch just 15 minutes later and the road was already closed by sherrif!
If Gail, Teri and Bill had not gone to the ranch on their own accord... we would have lost EVERYTHING. Our home, all our exotic birds and house pets would have been lost. They saved our home and family and we can never, never EVER thank them enough.
Our friends TJ and Angie also came to their aid and stayed as long as they could (they had their beautiful new baby girl with them.)
The fire was already pretty bad and heading for our property. Gail, Teri and Bill began evacuation of the exotic birds and house pets.
Keep in mind that the electricty was out. Since our ranch runs on a well and wells pump using elecricty, they had NO WATER! Everything was saved using shovels and buckets of water from the troughs and our little gold fish pond.
Gil turned around in Riverside and headed back home
Gil was allowed back up to the ranch by special permission and followed an official animal control vehicle up the highway. Thanks so much to Aubrey for giving Gil the information on Animal Control. He was one of only TWO final people allowed through!
Everyone worked through the evening putting out spot fires. It looked good for a while, then, the wind started swirling worse and the hay storage caught fire...
Teri took the bird show trailer w/ all the birds down the eight and a half winding highway 78 back to Ramona.
Alison, who also works for us, took charge of the birds. Alison and her family towed the show trailer with birds and my cat Pearl. Every time they were evacuated. They were re-evacuated THREE TIMES and finally ended up camped at the stables at Mira Mar military area. Perhaps if you stopped by, Alison will put on a little bird show for you! Gil sent everyone home so they could get out safely... he continued to fight the fire with shovel and bucket.
Gil, the camels and animals are all safe! The pastures are well grazed and as the fire moved through, the camels, horses and donkeys were able to work their way around the edges. In the pastures, the fire stayed low and less fierce. The animals stayed calm and moved around easily.
My sister reported seeing burning embers blowing and rolling along the ground everywhere you looked... the animals looked like they were moving through lava!
Gil phoned me at 2:00 in the morning Monday. He is fine, the animals are all alive and not even cinged! The house still stands although he is watchful for burning embers that may have gotten into the attic.
My sister Gail and her family are fine, the fire has not come near their home in Ramona. They are all ok for now.
Gil can't get any calls in but you can email me at nancykobert@aol.com. Also, any friends and family that have my cell phone number.... my number is fine.
I will update this page when Gil calls with more information.
Thank you everyone!!!!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Gail, Larry,Teri, Bill, Alison and family, Lori, Aubrey and family, Angie and TJ... and just EVERYONE!!!.
Nancy Hello everyone.
Thanks for all the emails and calls of support. It may not seem like much but it is HUGE support and Gil and I really appreciate it.
I am still in Arizona and Gil checks in every day. I thought I should give you all an update on the situation.
Gil currently has power via a generator that my brother-in-law Larry hooked up. With electricity, Gil has WATER. (We are on a well)
He can now get down into the town of Ramona to get food for himself and the animals. At first, it was very scetchy for the livestock because the pastures had burned and so had our stored hay! He has ten bales now and that should last a few days.
Missing pigs turn up after a long, nap. All of our animals are alive... every last one of them! Even the two pigs that couldn't be found the night of the fire (if you have been to the Ranch, you know Byron and Pricilla... our pot belly pigs... they roam free) Turns out, they were under the acacia bushes snoring away! The pigs must have great confidence in our ability to take care of business!
Very minor injuries assessed. One of our little mini donkies has a small hair burned out area on her back where a hot ember must have landed but her skin is fine. One of the camels was chewing awkwardly... Gil can't see anything but he thinks maybe he mouthed something hot and has an uncomfortable burn. He is eating and drinking though.
The house is standing and absolutely full of black suit, dirt and goodness knows what else... but it is still there.
Gil said today he was able to see burned areas around the house that Teri, Bill and Gail must have put out before he got there... a few where really close! They TOTALLY saved our home and animals!
Gil's discription of fighting the fire... Gil described the wind the night of the fire: We get HUGE santa-anna winds every fall. When a gust comes through, it shakes the house for about 10 seconds... I mean REALLY shakes it. The night of the fire, the house shook like that but not for 10 seconds here and there.... it shook like that CONTINUALLY. Then, when a gust would come ,through, the house would TWIST!!!!!! (If you've ever seen the house, this would make sense... it is less of a house and more of a large barn w/ a one bedroom appartment on the top.
When Gil was alone there the first night after he sent everyone home (although nobody wanted to leave!) he said the wind was so bad.... all you could do was stand there.... it was over 100 miles an hour! The beautiful, historical school house across the highway went up in flames while Gil was there alone. He said he stood there near our house, trying to protect it somehow (again, with a bucket of water and a shovel...) and he would look up and the sky was a sea of red embers flowing past like a wide river you can't see across. How our house did not burn..... we are so so fortunate.
Calm camels come to their keeper... Another neat story from the night of the fire was that at one point in the wee hours, Gil looked out into the pasture and all the camels where laying down together......... surrounded by a ring of fire!
He called to them and they all got up and calmly walked to him and all the camels, the donkeys and horses just followed Gil as calm as could be... donkeys w/ ears forward and close as if to say "ok boss, what next?"
My sister Gail gives me more information about the amazing events the night of the fire! I talked to Gail today too. They are doing fine in Ramona BUT, all the city water is shut off! Luckily, they also have a well and Larry hooked up their generator too.
Gail is going to try to get down the hill to work tomorrow but as of today, the roads in and out are still closed.
Gail told me the night of the fire, Teri's husband, Bill, got up on our tractor and tried to cut a fire break. (what a great idea!) But the fire came up so fast, he was getting overcome. Teri ran to the highway and flagged down a fire truck team who came into the property and where literally hosing down Bill and the tractor as he was in the flames. (here is where I have to add ...."holy cow!")
Gail moves the Bull Camel... with a "hug"!!! The only camel in real danger that night was Romeo, our beautiful bull camel and daddy to Samson and Dilila. He is not kept w/ the herd but rather in a corral (like you would do with a horse stallion) His corral was right near the burning hay and manure compost area and he was litteraly in blowing, rolling fire. So Gail goes up to him.... A BULL CAMEL ... and puts her arm around his neck and hugs him tight saying "come on baby... lets go this way"... and he totally walked slowly with her, cuddled close to safety. (again.... "holy cow!")
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Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.
Nancy The following is an email letter my sister Gail sent out of her account including fighting the fire at the Camel Dairy..... AMAZING!!!!
Ramona, 102507 I am fine Tricia is fine and Larry is fine and our house is safe although we almost lost Nancy and Gils. Sunday afternoon about 1p I saw smoke and headed up there, fortunately one of her employees had done the same thing. Their property sits about halfway between Ramona and Santa Ysable where Highway 78 and old Julian Highway meet. Nancy and Gil were on their way to phoenix but Gil turned around and headed back as soon as they heard the news on the radio. Fire came at their 40 acres from due east and never changed directions just a steady huge wind carrying burning embers everywhere. Terry and her husband, empoyess of Nancy and Gils, another man who I don't know and I started loading animals in crates, hooking up the trailer and getting real serious about putting out spot fires. Animal control showed up and helped crate animals, the fire dept sprayed water for a while then took a good look around and left, although they never told us to. The fields around their house are grazed pretty low due to the Camels and Horses so that was a help. The Camels and Horses were herded into the far west fields as the fires started springing up all around the East side of the property. Large burning embers caught a huge pile of dead tree trunks on fire then about a ton and a half of hay caught and spewed burning material that was starting smaller fires closer and closer to the house. The trailer with the exotics had left by now but I was still loading house pets in the Jeep. I would go in, grab a yowling cat, come back outside and try to find the Jeep in allthe smoke. Two of us were left on the property by now, we were putting fires out that were adjacent to the house with a bucket, their pump for the well stopped working when the power went out so all we had was shovels and water from the animal tubs, there are a lot of tubs though... Gil got home and started putting out spot fires and checking to see what we had done with the animals, everybody was accounted for so he began putting out fires as well, with shovels and buckets of water from the Goldfish pond, proving that a goldfish pond can be the difference between losing or saving your house. I was glad to be in a Jeep! When I left to go up there I had 4 bottles of water and the digital camera when I finally had to leave I had dogs, cats and birds promising them that we were fine and everything would be OK. I exited their property left on highway 78 north for 1/4 mile driving through a literal carpet of red burning embers blowing 90 miles an hour across the road then for about 2 miles smoke so thick I had to stop to find the yellow line on the road or else drive off into whatever. The fire on Monday night almost made it to our house, it came within 4 blocks, but my husband Larry, has our water pump hooked up to a generator so we don't lose water, Gil and Nancy's is now hooked up that way too. We packed everything into the trailer and were ready to leave at a moments notice but it never got close enough to neccesitate running. Looters have been chased out of our neighborhood also neighbors are feeding animals for people who left in a hurry and could not evac their livestock. MANY of our friends up here have lost their homes I had a family of 6, one of Tricia's soccer coaches, here last night taking showers and people in my immediate neighborhood who have city water are coming by to fill up containers. The pumping station for the city water was destroyed and they are trying to get it all running again, no restaurants are open due to no water only supermarkets bars and liquor stores...but what more do you need? Will send the pictures when I figure out how. Love to all and Thankyou for your thoughts and prayers! Gail Krussow and Family
Hi Everyone, I thought I should write a new update because the situation changes every day! Thankfully, it is always changing for the better.
EVACUATION LIFTED... RESIDENTS RETURN The evacuation has been lifted in Ramona...everyone is allowed to return home. Gil called tonight and said that Ramona is still w/out city water and it looks like there are about a thousand porta pottys parked all over town!
WATER FLOWING AT THE RANCH... THANKS TO LARRY! We do have water at the ranch because of the well and the generator that my brother-in-law, Larry got hooked up.
BIRDS COME HOME... Alison was able to bring all the birds home today! They seem happy, healthy and very excited to see Gil! A bunch of folks came up today to help with clean up... there is a TON still to do and a lot of damage to repair but we feel so very, very fortunate. Theanimal food situation is all resolved! Thanks everyone for offering to bring up hay and crane food and you name it! The stores are opened and the animals are well stocked now.
TJ & ANGIE SAVE THE COYOTE (AND MORE) My sister was talking about two angels that came to our rescue last Sunday, Angie and her husband TJ. They couldn't stay long (they had their beautiful new baby girl in tow!) but helped load up animals and birds TJ... I LOVE that you loaded my chansaw art coyote into Gail's jeep!!!!! I was grateful that you saved him ... where he was sitting he would have burned for sure. I felt very foolish asking about it so I said nothing and was secretly very relieved that you saved him. (the things we think about!)
THE ARIZONA FRONT... HELP FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY. I am still in Arizona at the State Fair performing the Turkey Stampede Show. I HAVE TO THANK THREE MORE ANGELS!!!!! Michael and Karen Searle, long time friends and managers at the Maricopa County Fair have taken me in during the State Fair. When Gil turned around to head home to fight the fires, he towed the travel trailer/living quarters home too. I had no place to stay and was looking at hotelin' it and they wouldn't hear of it!
But that isn't the best part.... Guess who is driving Big Red, the RC truck the turkeys chase????? KAREN!!!! She is doing sooooo well! I wouldn't be having such hilarious shows if it wasn't for Karen and also for Michael taking me in.
My niece, Alicia who also lives here in Phoenix is helping perform the shows on the weekends... she did AWESOME today! Driving that truck is difficult. With the cheering and the turkeys running 10 different directions... it is HYSTERICAL! Alicia is a massage therapist and after this stint with the turkeys, she may need a massage of her own!
I know it sounds strange but all things considered, this whole disaster has been pretty survivable.
Thanks for your support and emails. You can contact me any time at nancykobert@aol.com
Take care, Nancy I did leave part of the original story out because it is rather embarrasing. But I really wanted to thank Vince and Sarah Agnifilli from the Southern California Fair for helping us out!
Sunday, when the fire was burning our ranch and Gil was racing home with the truck and travel trailer, Vince let us park the travel trailer safely on his fairgrounds which saved Gil PRECIOUS driving time. Not to mention, the sherrif probably would not have allowed him past the road block w/ that thing! THANKS VINCE
Now, that isn't the embarrassing part.... I was driving like a crazy person heading for Phoenix... pretty much on the phone the entire time trying desperately to get updates and information about the fire.
I knew Vince and Sarah where in route from Phoenix back to Perris because I had called him about parking the trailer.
Well, I stopped for fuel in Blythe, pretty much on fumes because I was so freaked out that I hadn't been watching the guages. I found a travel stop with gas and diesel and pulled in to fill both empty tanks in the ford.... Still on the phone, I got my fuel, grabbed some water and was ready to go.
I didn't get eight feet from the pump before the ford stalled out and refused to start. I couldn't believe it! What the heck was wrong with this old 91 truck! When I looked in my review mirror back at the pump, I instantly knew what was wrong.... in my "state" I had filled both tanks with gasoline!
I called Vince again. He and Sarah met me at the truck stop, waited with me for AAA and found a mechanic that would meet us at his shop and drain the tanks for me THAT NIGHT so I could keep going on to Phoenix and set up in time to start the Turkey Stampede at the State Fair! They stayed with me the whole time until I was safely back on my way.
That should have been a horrible experience and instead.... it was so terrific! I have never had so many wonderful friends!
Talk to you soon, Nancy
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