Vancouver Island horse owner community pulls together to find space for evacuated animals

A woman from Saanich is offering up room for those who may have to evacuate horses out of Sooke because of a wildfire.

This comes as the Old Man Lake wildfire in the Sooke Potholes Regional Park, west of Victoria, grew overnight.

Owner of Echo Ridge Stables Laura Fanning, who lives an hour away from Sooke says it’s really hard to move horses around because the horse community of B.C. is rather small, especially in Vancouver Island.

She says most people in the community have two to four horse trailers, but more horses on their property, which makes things difficult.

“Many of us also have 12 or more horses on our property…It’s quite difficult to get them all out quickly,” she said. “We have an informal group of connections that watch these things, and if we can help, we try and help.”

She says a number of people started posting Wednesday morning when they saw the fire had grown in the area.

“We have friends and colleagues in the area that we know have horses and I just made the offer here at our stable because we have some space,” Laura said. “Since then I’ve had a number of people post the same thing.”

She says she’s managed to source about 20 spots for horses with the help of a friend.

“If anyone needs help and they don’t have a trailer, we can come and pick up their horses,” Laura said. “If they do have a trailer, they can bring the horses out, and we’ll take care of them and make sure they’re fed.”

Laura says the situation has not escalated but she’s keeping track of the wildfire so that she has as much warning as possible if things do change.

“It’s looking like it’s heading north instead of south towards the community, so it’s not great for the wildlife but it’s better for the homes and the livestock in the area,” she said.

The BC Wildfire Service says the Old Man Lake fire was discovered first on Monday afternoon when it was just three hectares in size. By Tuesday the fire grew to 50 hectares.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the BCWS says the fire is at 169 hectares.

–With files from Raynaldo Suarez.