By Rachel Querry

LAKESIDE, Calif.—A steady stream of people walk through a makeshift entrance to an emergency shelter for horses. The faces of these people show both anxiety and relief.

Many have brought their dogs on leashes—perhaps hoping to reunite all the members of their family for the first time in days.

California's wildfires, ravaging the southern part of the state for close to a week, have separated families and destroyed homes. The deadly blazes rampaged through a part of the country where animal people settled, seeking room for their horses, space for their dogs, a proximity to the wonders of nature.

But in this makeshift shelter, drawn expressions turn to relief as visitors check on each other—people, horses and dogs.

More than 350 horses have been provided temporary shelter here at a place called Lakeside Rodeo—an evacuation center established by San Diego County Animal Services and staffed by Disaster Services responders from The Humane Society of the United States.

Many of these horses were left in the care of trained responders by their owners, who are staying with friends, in hotels and at evacuation centers. The horses have plastic yellow identification bands around their necks noting important information about the animals, including their addresses.

Lakeside Grounds Turn Shelter for Horses, Chickens

The perimeter of the grounds is marked by a parade of horses, each tied by a rope to empty bleachers. More horses spill out into pens in the rear of the building. Each animal has hay and fresh water in orange five-gallon buckets donated by Home Depot.

The operation is on the outskirts of San Diego 10 miles away from Qualcomm Stadium, where thousands of San Diego County residents await the word it is safe to go back home. The situation there, said Eric Sakach, California director for The HSUS when he visited the stadium, looked like a good one. People were taking good care of their animals. And the animals were helping to keeping the kids entertained.

In Lakeside, the horses munched hay while around them staff from San Diego County Animal Services and The HSUS plan the next stage of triage and rescue for the region's animals. The smoke from the fires creates a haze that lingers.

The HSUS/Kathy Milani

The HSUS's Scott Wilson helps evacuate a goat near San Diego, Calif. Oct. 24

Residents who have no other shelter arrived with trailers to drop off horses by ones and twos. Somehow, rescued chickens have arrived as well.

"San Diego County Animal Services is doing a fantastic job. This is working the way it is supposed to," said Sakach. As of Tuesday, 20 regional and Disaster Services experts were on hand to help rescue and manage animals in the face of the fires, with at least 10 more inbound Wednesday.

A Place for Owners to Care for Animals

Owners and area volunteers have been seeing to the needs of the Lakeside horses. Just four years ago, Elizabeth Johnston found herself in the path of one of California's seasonal wildfires. Her horse had to be evacuated.

This time, she came ready to help others. She arrived as a volunteer and went to work with feed and shovel.

Richard Wang, another evacuee who arrived to check on his animals, said that the evacuation moved more smoothly than in past years. He is a local 4H adviser with five horses at the Lakeside Rodeo grounds. His sheep and goats are sheltered at another evacuation center and his dogs have taken up temporary residence at his mother's house in Claremont.

As for many Southern Californians, the fires have been an emotional roller coaster for Wang. He was told that his house burned down. Then he learned that, in addition to his animals, his home had also been spared.

"Everything around me is gone, but mine is okay."

The Search for Wally

Not everyone can yet say the same.

During evacuation from the community of Olivenhain, the whereabouts of a white Arabian with a black button on his nose, a 21-year-old gelding named Wally, presented an agonizing mystery for his owner, Camille Perkins.

The HSUS/Kathy Milani

A sign indicates that animals were evacuated from a home.

Perkins was ordered to evacuate in the face of the approaching firestorm. She couldn't find a trailer for Wally, so she decided to ride him out of the danger area—a three-hour trek. With the flames fast approaching and the neighborhood all but empty, she went to ride him out—but Wally was gone, already evacuated, said a neighbor.

Heartsick, Perkins said, "We looked for him for an hour before we left our home."

Finally, she took her other animals, a rabbit and a rescued border collie named Oliver, and fled the fire to the Encinitas Senior Center where cages and other supplies were on hand for animal care.

Word arrived that it was safe to return home. But Camille Perkins and her mother had another mission: To visit all of the area horse evacuation centers until they found Wally.

"We love our animals. They are members of the family," she said, determined to reunite the Perkins clan.

With more evacuated animals arriving at the Lakeside Rodeo shelter as firefighters work to contain the fires, The HSUS Disaster Services team and the San Diego County Animal Services continue working so that Perkins and others like her put their families back together again.