“Pandemonium here, ” was in a late night message sent by Noah Rattner, general manager and co-owners of Devonwood Equestrian Center, Sherwood, Oregon.

With high winds and fires raging in the surrounding regions, Rattner put out a message on his Facebook Page that Devonwood was ready and able to take evacuees. In under 24 hours, he was filled to their 250 stall capacity with horse, ponies, and other assorted animals, as the skies surrounding them glowed in the horror what what happening.

DevonWood had volunteered to be an evacuation destination since they have no overhead power lines, are privately owned, have stabling for up to 250 horses. “Thankfully we were in ready position and could taken every horse in town,” said Rattner.

Some people are camped, but the majority left to save what they could from their homes and barns. Getting the animals out was their first priority. Many arriving at Devonwood were coming from another evacuation location that became unsafe, with the winds and fire raging at lightning speed.

“We’ve been fielding calls for since 7:00 am and they’re still calling now at 2:45 am. Fires are still blazing and the adjacent cities are in Level 3 Evacuation order.”

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