As the Gifford Fire continues to burn across the Central Coast, the Santa Maria Elks Event Center has taken on a new role. What's normally a site for rodeos, parades, and community celebrations has now become a lifeline for farm animals evacuated from fire zones.
Tina Tonascia, Elks Recreation Inc. Chief Operations Officer, said the facility's role in emergency response has been years in the making.
“So we’ve been a part of the program with Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter and Office of Emergency Operations for years,” Tonascia said. “Our property is available at a moment’s notice for not only the fire folks, Cal Fire, U.S. Forest Service, but also working with the animal services directors here in our area that we open up the property should there be any kind of emergency situation like this.”
That long-standing partnership means the transition from event center to evacuation site can happen in a matter of hours. When a fire threatens the area, the grounds are open to livestock, feed is brought in, and volunteers prepare pens and water stations.
“We have an amazing team of volunteers that jump when we get the call to come out and prep pens or prep the grounds, whatever that need may be,” Tonascia said. “We just are grateful to be a part of this and humbled to be able to help people in their time of need, so we always offer up our entire facility for whatever is needed in a disaster situation like this.”
Many of those volunteers are part of a group called “Team Santa Maria,” a network of people with years of experience working with livestock, ranch animals, and horses.
“We have a phone, text group that when we get the call that there’s a need and everybody jumps in,” Tonascia said. “It’s not a challenge to find the volunteers. They’re just there. They’re ready to roll. You see them out here today cleaning, feeding, watering.”
For some, their role goes beyond basic care.
“We have volunteers that come out and just give love to the animals,” she said. “They become attached to them. It’s always sad when we do it. It’s happy we get to send them home, but then we also are a little bit sad in the sense that we become attached to them just as much as their owners.”
The process starts well before flames reach a property. Tonascia explained that their team is often on alert before the official call from animal services comes in.
“Typically, we get the call from Santa Barbara County Animal Services and/or the San Luis Obispo Animal Services directors, and we go into immediate mode,” she said. “Generally speaking, I’ll have calls long before I even get the call. Any time we see smoke within the vicinity of our community, our volunteers are already on top of things.”
From there, a well-practiced plan kicks in. Trucks and trailers are mobilized, pens are built, and feed is ready before the first animals arrive.
“We work in partnership with HEET as well. They’re a big part of the program in getting the animals to us, as well as just regular volunteers,” Tonascia said. “The call comes in, we start making the calls out to our volunteers that haul animals, everybody’s on call. Everybody’s ready to roll, just waiting for those calls.”
Tonascia said evacuating animals early is critical.
“It’s better to get them out before it gets really bad,” she said. “In some cases, when we get the animals that have been exposed to the fire and they’re a little bit frantic, they’re like the rest of us. I mean, they’re animals, they’re human in the sense that they feel emotion, too, so they’re scared.”
She added that moving livestock early allows owners to focus on protecting their homes and families instead of worrying about animal safety.
“We want to just make sure that we can get them here as quickly as we can, so that the owners can concentrate on their home and what they need to do,” Tonascia said.
As of Tuesday, the Elks Event Center was caring for a mix of animals: a dozen horses from San Luis Obispo County, two donkeys, eight goats, and 12 pigs.
One of those horses belongs to Arroyo Grande resident Lillian Rosen. She said she made the call to evacuate immediately after an order was issued for the ranch where her horses were stabled.
“My horses were stabled out on, past High Mountain Road in a beautiful area that is now, had been evacuated,” Rosen said. “That’s why we called the people from HEET, and they came and helped us move nine horses from the ranch location to here.”
Rosen said she knew from experience not to wait.
“With large animals, you don’t want to stick around,” she said. “Here we are, and it’s a brand new experience for them because they lived in wide open spaces, so having the pens is asking a lot, but horses are very adaptable.”
To help her horses adjust, Rosen comes to the center to feed and care for them at the same time each day, keeping their routine consistent.
“I’m here every day checking and caring,” she said. “HEET also has been great. They check them all day long and they have a person here at night, so I feel totally relaxed about my horse being here.”
She hopes to return the horses home soon but knows it may take time. Her advice to other livestock owners is simple.
“If you get an evacuation order, it’s time to go,” Rosen said. “Don’t wait until it’s too late. Bringing them here has been a really good experience for us and all the horses concerned.”
For Tonascia, that’s exactly why the facility exists during fire season.
“Don’t feel like you’re going to be an inconvenience,” she said. “Use us. That’s what we’re here for, to keep you and your animals safe.”
