The news media called in "Firestorm 2003" and national
headlines told the story of the tragic loss of homes, businesses,
nature, and even human lives. The part of the story that wasn’t as
publicized was the impact this tragedy had on animals and animal rescues.
I volunteer with CA. Siamese Rescue (CASR) and I awoke Sunday morning,
October 26th to a startling e-mail message. One of the members
of the Board of Directors (Karen) had sent out a message saying that the
S. CA. Directors' (Mary Ann and Larry) home and the primary S. CA. kennel
for fosters was in danger from the fires and had a half hour to evacuate.
Mary Ann and Larry had to take 30 CASR cats plus their family cats and 3
dogs and run. There was no time to grab clothes or personal belongings,
although they were able to take some of the computer equipment. They
evacuated to a supermarket parking lot to wait for people who’d volunteered
to take cats on a short-term basis and for a family that was planning to
adopt a CASR cat that day. The adoption happened on schedule, and then word
came that they were being evacuated from the parking lot because this area
was now in danger. It was fortunate that cell phones were working because
many calls and e-mails were used in order to get help to Larry and Mary Ann.
They were in San Diego and many people in Los Angeles offered to take cats.
Usually, CASR has something called "Meezer Express" which is a group
of volunteers who transport cats. In this case, however, the roads were closed
off because of the fires and there was no way to get any of the cats to Los
Angeles. It was fortunate that many apartment managers were understanding
and people who lived in buildings that didn’t allow pets were able to take in
a cat or two for a short time. One angel even took in 11 of the cats. Larry
and Mary Ann spent a very tense night with a friend not knowing whether their
house and the kennel were still standing or not. The smoke was thick throughout
the area. As they put it, "We spent a good part of the evening looking out the
window at the line of fire coming down the hill toward the East side of El Cajon
(which is where they live). " Finally, Karen suggested that we call the CASR
phone line as this had an answering machine and not voice mail. The machine
picked up the call and everyone breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the house
was still there, even though it wasn’t out of danger. CASR is part of a group
of Siamese rescues around the US that share a website (www.siameserescue.org) but
are run independently. Because the rescue is so widespread, much of the "work" of
the rescue happens via computer. Most of the website and computer things are
managed through the VA rescue, so they had to be contacted and all computer
communication had to be rerouted to the N. CA. Director, Denise, in the San
Francisco area and she kept everyone posted on developments. The VA group acted
very quickly to help with CASR's situation regarding the computer.
There were a lot of cats that needed help and people were astonishingly gracious.
Interestingly, though, there were also cats that were the helpers in the situation.
One person, Cindy, who'd rescued a cat from us wrote, "I actually have my Siamese cat,
Monet, to thank for nudging me awake on Sunday morning and not letting me go back to
sleep. I have a skylight in my bedroom, and I could hear the wind blowing branches
against my house, but when I looked up through the skylight, I couldn't figure out
whether the murky grayness tinged with red were a storm or smoke from a fire. One
emergency vehicle passed and then 15 minutes later an entire string of fire engines
passed with a full police escort. At that point I got up, turned on my TV and saw
that the fire was huge and in Scripps Ranch, less than a mile away from where I live."
Cindy was able to evacuate safely with her entire family (two footed and four footed),
thanks to Monet's wake-up call.
I have my own personal "cats that helped" story. I live in Los Angeles and,
although there was a lot of smoke in my area, my house was never threatened. Having
felt tense from everything that had occurred on Sunday with CASR, I was finally able
to relax and take a nap on Monday. I was sleeping soundly when my cat, Nicky, whapped
me very hard on the head. Because of past experiences with Nicky, when he whaps, I
listen. I jumped up in bed but didn't see or hear anything unusual. I decided to
look around the house and when I got to my office, one of my cats that has Feline
Asthma was in the middle of a very bad attack and was unable to breathe because of
the smoke (even though all our doors and windows were closed). I grabbed him and got
him into the bathroom to use his emergency inhaler and he was able to breathe again.
My veterinarian and I have no doubt that he would have died if Nicky hadn't woken me up.
There are many, many stories of heroic efforts and, sadly, terrible losses.
Firestorm 2003 had a horrific impact on many people and animals. It's hard to
describe what it was like to be in the middle of thick smoke that made the middle
of the day look like midnight and to experience the horrible anxiety of not knowing
whether those you loved would lose everything or come out safely. CASR was lucky
because we were able, with the help of many, many people, to save everything, cats,
buildings, and Larry and Mary Ann's personal home. We’re just now starting to be able
to joke about this a little. Since there are no paid positions at CASR, we can say
that we’re doubling everyone’s salary (Of course, 2x0 is still 0!!)
By the way...that cat that was adopted in the supermarket parking lot? The
people decided to name him Smokey!
