SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In Spokane, at least 60,000 people have been evacuated as several fires continue to threaten homes. But animals have also had to leave, including some of the many horses that live on the rural-urban border of the city. Northwest Public Broadcasting senior correspondent Anna King went out to hear how they were doing.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORSE NEIGHING)
ANNA KING, BYLINE: Bubbles is a handsome, tall, black-brown horse. And as you can hear, he's upset. Horses often talk to each other when they're distressed or confused. Bubbles has been a bit off his feed and water since he and his owners were evacuated from the Autumn Lane Fire in the north part of Spokane. He's not used to being stalled. Here at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center, dozens of horses, a donkey and even an emu are taking a reprieve from the fire. Nearby, there's a whole other building for dogs and other smaller animals.
LU HILL: I definitely knew that Bubbles would get on a trailer, no problem. He's a good boy.
KING: That's Lu Hill. She's 46. She lives in West Spokane and works for a nonprofit in town.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORSE NEIGHING)
KING: She boards Bubbles and her other horse up north, where there are many boarding and training facilities - right where several fires burned through. Hill says she had to trust that the ranch owners would get her horses trailered out. In emergencies, people write phone numbers on horses' coats in case the horses get lost or separated from their owners. Horses don't have dog tags.
HILL: The idea of letting my horse go and then hoping that I find them again is probably the most devastating feeling you can imagine.
KING: She says she has a close relationship with her horses.
HILL: You can feel that they're scared, too, and they know something's coming. They have just as much urgency to be safe.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOVELING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: At least we would wear sleeves.
KING: The people here are stressed, too. Many of them have had to evacuate their homes and don't know when they'll return. Several were helping to clean stalls. Twelve-year-old Justin sweeps up an empty stall. His mom is a volunteer here. He has a toothy grin and a curly blonde mop of hair. His grandmother and grandfather's home burned up in the Old Trails Fire. And Justin's mother asked that we not use his last name because the family fears looters might target their destroyed property.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORSE NEIGHING)
JUSTIN: By the time they got the Level 3 evacuation, ashes were falling on their car. So luckily, they got both their cars and everything important, and they got out safely.
KING: His own family had to evacuate the Fairview Fire.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORSE NEIGHING)
KING: He managed to save his baseball, football and basketball cards.
JUSTIN: Yeah. It was pretty scary.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORSE NEIGHING)
KING: What do you remember about all that - when, like, you had to leave? What'd your mama say?
JUSTIN: She just said pack whatever you could, what's important to you, stuff that can't be replaced. And so I just grabbed everything that was important. And within 15 minutes, police showed up and said, you got to go. So we left.
KING: Justin is sad and a bit stressed, just like pretty much everyone around him. But many say working with the livestock, cleaning stalls and filling water buckets makes them feel like they can do something. It helps.
For NPR News, I'm Anna King in Spokane, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF VRAELL'S "BETWEEN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.