Wildfires Erupt Near Santa Anita Park

A series of wildfires erupted in Southern California late Jan. 7, one especially close to Santa Anita Park in nearby Eaton Canyon, after a powerful windstorm with gusts as high as 80 mph swept through the region. Santa Anita Park had closed morning training early Tuesday and shut off all power in the facility as a safety precaution. Training at the Arcadia, Calif., track was canceled the morning of Jan. 8, with the San Gabriel Mountains that fill the view from the grandstand glowing with flames. The power was restored Wednesday morning. Track officials released the following statement Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. PT: "The Santa Anita Park Fire Marshall, in coordination with local authorities, reports there is no direct threat to Santa Anita Park from the wildfires to the north. The track continues to remain outside the voluntary evacuation zone. The winds are blowing from east to west, embers and smoke are being pushed into the mountains and away from Santa Anita Park. The fire's progress is being consistently monitored and any change will be updated accordingly." "The wind is as quiet as I’ve seen it in three days and it’s blowing horizontally," said Santa Anita senior vice president and executive producer Amy Zimmerman. "We're considerably south of the fire. If you look at a map it would have to go a long, long way to reach us but you always have to plan for the worst and that’s where we’re at." Zimmerman said if horsemen would like to voluntarily evacuate their horses due to poor air quality, the track will offer vanning and assistance to move horses to a California Horse Racing Board-licensed facility such as San Luis Rey Downs or Los Alamitos Race Course. Beneath hazy skies, a light, steady ash has reportedly been trickling over the track since Tuesday night. The air quality index in Arcadia as of 1 p.m. local time Wednesday stood at an "unhealthy" rating of 178 with a PM of 2.5. The United States Environmental Protection Agency warns that both short- and long-term exposure to air with a PM2.5 index poses a considerable health risk. In addition to providing complimentary food and beverages Wednesday morning, Santa Anita track personnel made Food and Drug Administration-recommended N95 face masks as well as eye protectors available to backstretch workers. According to the L.A. Times, as of Wednesday, the Eaton Fire has consumed more than 10,000 acres of property with zero containment. Evacuation orders have been issued for people living in the cities of Altadena, Arcadia, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre. "Our biggest concern right now is honestly the impact of the fires on the racing community," Zimmerman said. "Many people, including myself, live in those areas that were evacuated and live in those areas that were decimated and that’s really the heartbreaking part of this whole story. In the racing community, we are all one family and that's the hardest part of all of this." "There's a lot of smoke but the horses are safe," said trainer Jay Nehf, who slept in his barn tack room Tuesday night after evacuating his home, which is located north of Santa Anita near the edge of the Angeles National Forest. "The track is closed; they were expecting more high winds and the smoke’s a big issue. But the fires (near us) seem to be slowing down I’ll say." A backstretch worker told BloodHorse that caring for the horses continued business as usual, and few trainers have evacuated their horses. While gusts of wind Tuesday night raged "like a hurricane," the worker said the winds had quieted down considerably by morning. As a safety measure, many of the track employees have been hosing off the roofs and outer wooden panels of their barns to ensure that loose embers blown in with the ash won't stick to the structures. Nehf said the track only incurred "minimal damage" on the backside, including fallen trees and wires. "Me and (trainer) Michael McCarthy share a barn and we got there around 7:30 last night," said trainer Jonathan Thomas. "We had everybody wet the roof and the sides and brace for impact I suppose. Last night it was much worse because there was a lot of fire but there was also a lot of wind. There were a lot of trees and power lines down. The whole mountain looked like it was on fire. "Right now, it does look like Santa Anita is going to be fine but the surrounding area... there are neighborhoods only a few miles away that are just devastated." Zimmerman said that a decision has yet to be made by track management on whether Santa Anita will open for training the remainder of the week or hold their scheduled race card Jan. 10. "We’ll evaluate everything in line with the CHRB’s air quality protocols and make those decisions at that time," Zimmerman said. "Right now our focus is on making sure everybody is safe and then we’ll pivot to decisions about business."