Our Friends' Llama Ranch That Didn't Burn Down Last Month

byRosanaHart

1.4K followers

Updated 4 years ago

This picture above shows the ranch that didn't burn down. We took that photo a long time ago.

To start at the beginning, we once had a llama ranch in Oregon. After some years we sold the ranch and several of the llamas. We made arrangements with a couple of our close friends to take a few of our llamas to keep in their own herd. They also lived in Oregon, over an hour drive from us. We would go out to their place sometimes and visit the llamas and the people. As time went by, our llamas died of old age and our friends had offspring from them. When we moved away from Oregon, we would still go see them every now and then. It's been several years since we were there.

Well, you likely know that forest fires have been burning--and still are--all up and down California, Oregon, and Washington, the three west coast states. Kelly and I had been keeping an eye on the government fire maps, and we noticed that our friends' ranch was pretty close to one of the fires. This was a concern as you had to take narrow dirt roads and driveways to get to their place. We sent them an email but didn't get an answer. Was that bad news or were they just busy? We didn't know but we prayed for them a lot.

Today we took another look at that fire online. It sure looked like their ranch was extremely close to the fire lines. On Google Earth, Kelly was able to spot their ranch, due to the layout of the farm buildings. It seemed to be just outside the fire lines but we didn't know how accurate the fire lines on the maps would be.

I grabbed my cellphone. On my second try, our friend Linda answered. Kelly and I settled down on the sofa to hear the story. As the title tells you, their ranch is still there, but man oh man it has been close.

They had to evacuate once in the middle of the night with virtually no warning, just the two of them and two of their three cats, but there was no chance to take the llamas. The fire came right along the other side of the dirt road leading to their place, but the llamas were all okay in their pasture when they went back in the morning. They had lost their electricity, and it would be off for weeks. Pumping water for the llamas was a challenge.

There were lots of twists and turns to the story, and Kelly had to hold the cellphone because I was crying as I listened.

A few days later they had to evacuate a second time, with more advance warning. A neighbor some distance away invited them to take their llamas to one of his pastures and they could stay in his fifth wheel near the animals. So they did that. It was a bit of a miracle that one of the llamas ran into the large livestock trailer that the neighbor brought over, and then the others followed in. Our friends had not been breeding llamas for quite a while now, and their herd is down to ten animals, all on the elderly side and set in their ways.

The fire fighters had told them to get out of their place because there was red-flag wind warning for around 3 AM. The expected wind direction was such that the fire team told our friends that they would not be able to protect their ranch. The beautiful home that they had built could not be protected. So they took laptops and other essentials. This time Linda was able to nab all three of their cats, and they went back to that same fifth wheel.

For whatever reason--and we were not the only people praying for them--the expected wind did not materialize. When they went home after a sleepless night, everything was there, though their glorious view now included a lot of charred trees.

Eventually they got electricity back, and now they are busy fixing things up to be more secure. When they broght their herd home, the llamas settled right in. Linda and her husband are grateful for their good luck. So are we.