The Boulder View Fire, burning north of the Phoenix area on Friday evening, prompted the relocation of 27 horses to an emergency animal shelter at the Cave Creek Rodeo Grounds, according to the community organization Arizona Foothills 911.
Crew and volunteers with the nonprofit took over the grounds located at 24th Street and Maddock Road in Cave Creek, about 20 miles east of the active fire.
The brush fire spread to 3,200 acres near the Boulder Heights neighborhood in the northeast Valley, prompting the evacuation of about 60 homes on Thursday.
Arizona Foothills 911 volunteers have provided round-the-clock care to over two dozen horses, with some crew members reporting they haven’t slept in the past 48 hours.
Volunteers were prepared to assist almost any kind of animal, including a nearby zebra and camel, but the call for help was canceled when the animals’ owners decided not to evacuate, according to Jared Faraci, a volunteer.
Faraci, along with Arizona Foothills 911 president and founder Sunny Parker, were on-site and ready to help with “llamas, ostriches anything,” emphasizing that they could handle almost any livestock, pet or animal except a bull.