Correction: An earlier version of this column said Stuart and Susan McElhinney filed paperwork for HEET. It was actually Carolyn Sokol who filed the paperwork.
Each fire season, Cal Fire designates San Luis Obispo County as at risk from wildland fires spreading into urban areas. In the 2002-03 Highway 58 and Parkhill fires, the agency reported 2,200 acres, five residences and $110,000 lost.
That’s when a few concerned horses owners realized their animals were at risk during wildfires.
Stuart McElhinney said, “There wasn’t a coordinated emergency evacuation system to care for the horses and organize their rescue. We needed a volunteer effort to develop a plan (and to) implement a system.”
By January 2003, Carolyn Sokol filed nonprofit paperwork for the Horse Emergency Evacuation Team (HEET). The mission is to work cooperatively with Cal Fire, the county Fire Chiefs Association, the Sheriff’s Office and CHP to coordinate a first response evacuation plan for large animals.
They quickly realized they needed to provide the public agencies more than a willingness to serve.
“We needed to train and develop strong relationships with first responders, first aid representatives and large-animal veterinarians,” Stuart McElhinney said.
HEET now has 25 members throughout the county ready to train more volunteers. Susan McElhinney is HEET’s secretary, and Stuart McElhinney is communications director. The president is Julie Monser.
HEET offers training each month in subjects including fire safety/incident command systems, Red Cross disaster services, first aid/CPR, horse handling, trailer handling, large animal rescue and horse triage.
Over the years, HEET has improved its database by listing more horse owners, developed a site visit protocol to determine the best evacuation plan and identified large animal shelters such as the Paso Robles Event Center.
Stuart McElhinney said they “now have a 24/7 emergency communication center. Our all-volunteer group keeps costs minimal. Insurance is a major expense. For HEET members to support county first responders, our group must carry at least a million-dollar policy.”
Susan McElhinney agreed some fundraising was needed to purchase more evacuation and emergency equipment such as the rescue slide HEET has donated for emergency use.
“We always need more volunteers. Two volunteers must always respond,” she said. “Many thanks for Dr. Andy Dibbern at the Equine Center for making himself available.”
In the coming months, www.sloheet.org will feature the group’s upcoming training schedule.
The McElhinneys are proud that after years of slowly developing HEET and training members, the group is now considered the lead agency for large animal rescues in the county.
Reach Judy Salamacha at judysalamacha@gmail.com or 805-801-1422.
SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.
Here are some rules of the road:
You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@thetribunenews.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@thetribunenews.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
Be the first to know what's going on in San Luis Obispo County. Just tell us how you want to find out — we'll take care of the rest.
Sign up for breaking news alerts from SanLuisObispo.com and get the latest news sent to your cell phone via text message.
By signing up for alerts from this site, you are signing up for a program that may include up to 5 SMS text alert(s) per alert category per day. There is no service fee charged per month but your carrier's standard text messaging and other charges may apply. You may stop this subscription service at any time by sending the text message "STOP" to 72737. You must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to use our alert services. If you are between 13 and 17 years old, you agree that you have received parental permission both to complete the registration process and to receive SMS content on your cell phone. For help, send the text message "HELP" to 72737. This service will work with ATT, Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, Alltell, US Cellular, Cincinnati Bell, Boost, Virgin Mobile USA, Celluar South, Telos, Centennial, East Kentucky Network, Cellcom, Immix and Rural Celluar.
E-mail »
Twitter »
Facebook »
iTribune »
Subscribe »
RSS »
About comments
Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.