FIRE STORY

- Debbie Fisher, Contributing Writer

Malibu residents, Debbie & Damon Fisher live in beautiful Winding Way, where they have stables that house almost 30 horses.  When fire broke out and moved quickly in their direction, threatening their family, their home and their beloved horses, the entire community pitched in to help.  Debbie’s hour-by-hour account of the remarkable group effort that ultimately saved the horses is incredible.

3:00 am

We wake to the sound of strong wind and the smell of smoke. The first thought was that this must be the smell of the ashes blowing around from the fires earlier in the month, but the smoke smelled fresh. 

4:00 a.m.

Our first call comes in from our neighbors, the Villablancas.  They have family in Carbon and we knew Carbon Canyon was in trouble.  Malibu is a small community and each of us has close friends in every neighborhood, so when fires hit, we worry.  The fire quickly moves from Carbon, to Latigo, to Escondido and to the end of our street, Winding Way.  Marc Gurvitz drives throughout the neighborhood to make sure everyone was on the move.  The fire engines are flying up our street announcing mandatory evacuation over their loudspeakers. 

4:45 a.m.

My husband comes in through our back door and Steve Dark comes through our front door announcing flames a few houses away.  It is scary starting the evacuation process in the dark, but many, many people are already helping.  (They would all become heroes today.) 

5:00 a.m.

My immediate response is to get my kids and dogs out of here.  My dear friend Lexie Adler took in our two boys and two dogs before the sun comes up.  She takes care of them all morning, which makes me feel safe so I could get back to the 25 horses that needed to be evacuated from our property.  The thought of watching my energetic little guys in her gorgeous home with so many things that look fun to touch and break makes me sweat as I type this. 

6:00 a.m.

Titania, Jannie and Michael, the Peddicords have been at our barn since the fire engines started screaming up on down our street.  By now the hill at the end of Winding Way is engulfed in flames, the helicopters are circling and the wind and the smoke (it i still pretty dark) make it feel like Dante’s inferno.  To get the horses out of the barn, we turn all the horses loose together in the Peddicord’s fenced pasture.  They are breathtaking, running around together with their tails up and nostrils flared.  The helicopters are circling right over our heads, making the whole thing incredibly dramatic.  Diane Hertz arrived and loaded all of our saddles and gear into her car and took them to safety, even as she faced evacuation at her home.  So many of our neighbors show up. 

All morning

After evacuating his wife, four boys and parents who were in town for Thanksgiving, and putting out the fire at the Goodens’ house, Steve Dark pulls two loads of horses to Trancas. 

We get very lucky around 7:00 a.m. (or 8:00 a.m. Or who knows?) when the wind changes.  The immediate fear lessens.

Brad Heitman who already evacuated his family (four kids) and their best friends in town for Thanksgiving (with five kids) from his house on East Winding Way, comes running to me and actually offers to lead rearing and terrifying Roxy out to safety.  Roxy is my two year old mare who was born on our property.  She is the last horse in her stall and she’s trying to jump out of it.  Brad’s gesture is one of the bravest I have ever witnessed, but I’m not about to let one of his first encounters with a horse be this one; luckily, Jorge (our groom) does the job.  Jorge literally risked his life going into that stall with Roxy’s flying hooves, to save her. 

Jan Kiblinger (who is apparently in the hospital with a crushed femur) is here moving horses.  Ysidro, Susie and Molly all drive down from Santa Barbara to start their very long day.  Our grooms are all unbelievably helpful. 

A man named David Ravens shows up like an angel from heaven with his gorgeous trailer and takes some of our horses first to Trancas and then, when Trancas is evacuated, on to Malibu Riding and Tennis.  Roxy has never been in a trailer, so I’m terrified that she won’t go.  She is one of the three last horses here and one of the highlights of the day is watching her walk into that trailer like a puppy dog.  (I called David Ravens to see if I could pay him for his troubles and his heroism.  He declined.  His company is Ravins Equine Transport.)

Afternoon & Evening

The firefighters are at our house with a giant fire truck in our driveway. 

Titania, Jannie and Michael, Robert Adler and later in the day Debrah Hoblit all quickly get to the receiving end of the horse transfer.  The thing with these fires is that once you leave, the road blocks prevent you from coming back, so these friends are leaving their homes and belongings behind to make sure all of our horses are situated and safe.  First, they go to Trancas and then Malibu Riding Tennis.  They make sure the horses are safe and comfortable and labeled with duck tape collars so amidst the chaos, people can knew who the horses belong to. 

Roxy slices up her leg and the team finds a phenomenal vet, Dr. Bradley Dygert, to stitch her up.   Joy at Malibu Riding and Tennis is an absolute saint and calmly takes in our horses and our ten million phone calls.  Titania has the day of all days.  After packing up her and Susan’s home in Corral and running, she gathers her friends – I remember Larry in particular -- and comes here.  (She won’t leave our horses until late in the evening.)

Susie Peddicord and I are like Thelma and Louise, sneaking though police and fire blocks with  our horse trailers to make sure the grooms and the horses are fed, and then getting back to our kids.  Even our home is being taken care of by friends.  Marc Sutherland, who lost most of his lawn in the last fire, comes immediately to our house to put wet towels around all of the doors and windows to keep the smoke out.

Night.  The fire is contained.

If it weren’t for the remarkable efforts of the fire departments, Malibu would have lost many, many more homes.  I would love to know the men and women who fly those planes and helicopters into the smoke to put out the flames.  It was an awesome thing to see.  

All in all, the horse community and our friends and neighbors pulled together like an amazing team and for that I am humbled and truly grateful.  Over the next few days, we will bring the horses home and await news of the damage. 

I can’t say enough how amazing and brave our grooms are.  Ysidro did a year’s worth of work in three days.  And Robert and Damon (my husband).  I think Damon was literally in five places at once, doing things like siphoning gas from cars to fill up the trucks that were hauling horses and getting people in through back roads and driveways. 

We are so happy and thankful that the fires are over.  Thank goodness we are all o.k. and the horses are all o.k.  but we are so sorry for everyone who did lose their homes.  Thank you all so much for being so generous and capable and for thinking of us during this emergency.  It really means the world to us. 

Love,

Debbie

(I’m sure I’m forgetting many of the people that were hugely helpful – please forgive me)

Interested in reading more about the Malibu fires?  Read Liane's story from last month's Malibu fires here which also includes information on how to donate to various organizations helping out those affected by the fires.  Also, The Malibu Times recently did an interesting article called "A Brief History of the Malibu Fires"