Disaster response / December 2017 – January 2018
Operation Burnt Woods
Twenty-five days inside the Thomas Fire. More than 50 households evacuated and more than 300 animals brought out of the fire’s path.
- 50+households evacuated
- 300+head of livestock rescued
- 25days in the fire zone
- 2days after ignition, HARP deployed
Figures from HARP Rescue’s impact report for Operation Burnt Woods.
A / The situation
A fire that would set records.
The Thomas Fire started on the evening of December 4, 2017, north of Santa Paula in Ventura County, driven by strong Santa Ana winds.1 It went on to burn 281,893 acres and destroy at least 1,063 structures.1
By late December it had passed the 2003 Cedar Fire to become the largest wildfire in California’s recorded history at the time.2 On December 13, it completely surrounded the Ojai Valley.1
HARP Rescue deployed to Ojai on December 6, two days after the fire began.
B / The call
People and animals in the fire’s path.
Requests came from local law enforcement and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE): help get civilians, and the livestock they depended on, out of the fire’s way.
C / The plan
Wind, smoke and roads.
Before going in, the team gathered road maps, aerial maps, projected wind patterns and smoke data. Disaster assessment models and HARP’s own experience turned that information into a framework for where to go, and in what order.
The plan put people first and livestock close behind — and treated the fire’s changing behavior as the one thing it could never take for granted.
D / In the field
When people won’t leave.
The hardest moments were not always on the fire line. Some residents refused to leave their properties, even as the danger grew.
When evacuation was not possible, the team adapted. HARP helped shore up those properties to reduce the risk and make conditions safer for the people who chose to stay.
E / The outcome
Fifty households. Three hundred animals.
Over 25 days, HARP Rescue helped evacuate more than 50 households and brought more than 300 head of livestock to safety — cows, horses, goats, pigs and dogs.
For rural families, the animals are livelihood and family both. Getting them out meant there was more to rebuild from once the fire had passed.
Sources
HARP Rescue’s actions and figures come from its own impact report for this operation. Background on the event comes from the public sources below.
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