The wildfire tops the final ridge before descending into the valley toward the Red Rock Hounds kennels, stables, and homes, from where this photo was shot. / Joy Smith photo
“A huge scare. That’s for sure,” said Angela Murray, MFH and huntsman, Red Rock Hounds (NV).
After many hot and blistering weeks the sagebrush had turned to dry tinder for miles around, just waiting for a spark. On August 2, 2020 the wait was over. A car blew a tire on the north-south freeway 395 about ten miles west of the ranch that is home to the Red Rock Hounds. The spinning rim of the wheel hit the pavement and sparks flew. The sagebrush caught fire, spread, and with windy conditions for encouragement headed east from the freeway and over the first mountain range.
“There’s a second mountain range to cross before a fire reaches the ranch,” explained Murray, “and the firefighters usually get it under control there.”
Not this time. The fire got away from the firefighters, came down the other side into the valley where the Red Rock Hounds are kenneled, along with houses, stables, eighty-five horses, sheds, and corrals. The fire crossed Red Rock Road and reached the ranch around midnight.
“[It] went from, ‘Oh, they’ll get it out and it’s far from us.’ to ‘Holy sh*t, it’s just a few hundred feet from the ranch. We need to evacuate all the animals now!’” recalled Joy Smith.
“The firefighters were amazing…incredible…as were our members and the ranch hands,” said Murray. “Everyone worked like hell.”
“A remarkable community, this Red Rock valley is,” agreed Smith. “Everyone worked together; trust in each other was complete. I handed over one of my horses to a complete stranger to haul, giving her my number but not so much as even getting her name. I gave my car to someone I’d just met with my other most precious cargo inside, my cat, Norma. I jumped in someone else’s truck that was hooked to my trailer to haul a load of hounds to safety out of the fire zone.”
Professional whipper-in Raina Robrahn and her partner Jerry Dugan accommodated all the hounds from the kennel at their place seven miles away just an hour before the fire arrived. Litters of this year’s puppies were taken home by other members.
The houses were evacuated. About twenty hunt members showed up and pitched in…evacuating animals, creating fire breaks, and working alongside the firefighters with shovels, rakes, and hoses.
Of the eighty-five horses on the ranch, fifteen or so were evacuated to homes of friends and members. The seventy remaining horses were brought to a pond on the ranch. The firefighters were there throughout, staving off the fire from the ranch buildings.
Evacuating in the dark of night / Joy Smith photo
In addition to professional houndsmen and horsemen at the ranch, Master Murray also has the professional cat wrangler, Joy Smith. Smith has a weekend home on the ranch, and she owns the Fieldhaven Feline Center in Lincoln, California. Smith helped with horses, hounds, and puppies, but her most amazing feat was saving all the cats as well. In her spare moments Smith also shot the excellent photos and videos.
As for damages, a total of 6,700 acres burned in just twelve hours. A pasture and fence line on the ranch was burned out, as well as a dozen coops in the hunting country. About 800 homes in the valley were threatened, but not a life was lost—human or animal—and not a single house.
Senior Master Lynn Lloyd was away when the wildfire hit and missed the entire event. She must be thankful and proud that the hunt and community she built was in such capable hands.
Posted August 17, 2020
Video by Joy Smith