COVINA, Calif. — St. George's Kelly Brinkerhoff shared photos she took when the flames from the devastating Pacific Palisades fire in California came too close for comfort to where she and her husband were staying near to where they race horses at the Santa Anita Park.
"We’ve got 20 horses here at the barn, and worrying about if the wind changes and, you know, do we have time to get anybody out? Because in addition to the horses, we have people who work with us here like grooms and others and they’d have to get out," Brinkerhoff shared. "It was very concerning."
Still in Covina, California on Wednesday, the Brinkerhoffs feel like they escaped the worst of the fires, but only after a stressful sleepless night Tuesday.
"During the night the wind blew the top of our roof off," Kelly said.
Thousands of horses, including those trained by the Brinkerhoffs, were brought from the racetrack to nearby evacuation zones and the couple feels they are relatively safe.
"Other than just breathing that air," said Kelly. "It’s not good. It’s not good for any of us."
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While Kelly says her horses are being well taken care of, she has heard of others wandering through neighborhoods along with many wild animals.
"They are telling us we can evacuate. I don’t know where to, maybe they’ll open Del Mar [racetrack] if we have to go," she added.
The Utah couple, who spend a big part of the year at Santa Anita, is now waiting things out and Kelly is encouraged by the shifting winds, firefighting efforts and water drops that have started from above.
"Just hoping they can get the fires out."
