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The morning of Nov. 8 wasn’t the first time Prince Charming stared death in the face.
The wildfire, the deadliest and most destructive in California history, ripped through the two-acre property where Prince lived. It moved so quickly that owners Laura Bruns and Jim Hart could only escape by ramming their car through a closed gate and flames.
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It burned down the couple’s house and killed their three cats along with a goat named Spike who happened to be Prince’s closest animal companion.
Somehow Prince and four full-size horses managed to survive the firestorm, possibly by running through an open gate to escape the flames.
“We’re kind of amazed he made it through the fire because he couldn’t keep up with the other horses because of his little legs,” Bruns said, of the horse who stands 24 inches high.
“But he must have done pretty good. You’ve got to figure he is pretty smart since he managed to survive.”
It was Prince’s second brush with death in recent years.
Five years earlier in Eugene, Ore., he was for sale at an auction where some of the bidders bought horses for slaughter.
Fortunately for Prince, Bruns and Hart submitted the winning bid that bought the horse a second chance.
“We just came across him in Oregon and I couldn’t resist,” Hart said.
Terrifying escape turns into sickening uncertainty
More than two weeks after the fire started, Bruns, Hart and their animals are still rattled and suffering from the experience.
The chaos began around 8 a.m. Nov. 8, less than three hours after the fire started near Pulga, just a few miles from their home. .
That’s when Hart woke up to the sound of wind mixed with unusual crashing sounds. He hadn’t yet realized the couple’s property was doomed and their lives in peril.
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“I woke up and I heard the wind and it sounded strange,” Hart said. “I went outside and there were flames everywhere.”
Bruns said she woke up and found herself in a surreal environment. Hart was shouting and the couple’s property was engulfed in flames.
Still in her nightgown and sandals, Bruns struggled to make sense of the situation.
“It was biblical, everything was on fire,” she said. “It was very hot, very fast, very crazy fire.”
The couple had to act fast.
They flung open the gates to the pasture where their full-size horses, Prince and Spike lived and urged the animals to flee.
Then they loaded their four dogs into the car to drive away only to find they were blocked by the gate to the driveway, which was on fire.
Bruns said Hart pulled the pin to the gate and used the car to ram through. Then they had to drive for miles with flames on either side of the road, she said. At one point a large branch crashed down from above, barely missing the sunroof.
“I was traumatized, I was speechless,” Bruns said. “The dogs were all scared, there wasn’t a bark out of them, they were just shaking.”
Although Bruns and Hart escaped the flames it didn’t mean they could relax.
With the area under an evacuation order they couldn’t return to the property to learn the fate of Prince and the other animals.
“We couldn’t rest until we found our animals, they’re part of our lives,” Bruns said. “I think at first (Prince) was really scared and lost, and we were scared and lost looking for him.”
A surprising rescue
During the separation, Hart and Bruns bought a tablet to replace their lost electronics and set about scouring the internet and making phone calls for help locating the animals.
Hart said they placed numerous calls to the North Valley Animal Disaster Group, a Northern California non-profit that rescues animals in disaster areas.
But in the hours and days following the fire the animal group was swamped with requests. By the Saturday following the start of the fire thousands of homes had burned and the scorched area was nearing 100,000 acres.
The animal group had already fielded thousands of calls and calls were still coming in at a rate of as many as four per minute.
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“It is all a blur,” said Lori Finch, an evacuation team member for the animal group.
Finch was among the volunteers and animal control officers who were in Concow three days after the fire when they found Prince.
She said at first glance it didn’t seem like an area where they would find survivors.
“There was nothing left up there, it was completely devastated,” she said.
She said a volunteer found Prince and the other horses. The full-size horses, including a Kiger Mustang that had once been a wild horse in Oregon, had only minor or no injuries.
Prince, however, was in rough shape. His long, flowing mane was singed and his nose and underside were burned.
“He was very burned, his hair color and texture had changed after being singed,” Finch said. “He didn’t look anything like he used to.”
The group made the decision that the full-size horses could be given food and water remain in place but Prince needed to be rescued.
“He is so tiny and cute, rather than wait for a trailer to come we decided to put him in the back of an animal control pickup,” Finch said.
Although the crew managed to rescue an injured-but-grateful Prince Charming, they didn't find the horse's best friend and stablemate, a goat named Spike.
But as they were leaving the scene they did happen across another injured but alive animal.
“We literally went around the corner and there was the burnt goat,” Finch said.
It wasn't Spike but it was a different goat named Bucky whom Bruns and Hart had rescued from the goat milk industry and given to a neighbor.
After the neighbor learned Spike had died he agreed to give Bucky back to Hart and Bruns so Prince could have a new friend.
Recovery will be difficult
After a stop at a vet in Oroville, Prince was transferred to the University of California, Davis Center for Equine Health.
Bruns said reuniting with him was an emotional experience for both human and horse.
“He heard our voices and came to the gate, he wanted to come out and go with us,” Bruns said. “Before that he was kind of depressed because he was alone, because he didn’t have his goat and he didn’t have us.”
But Prince will need to stay at the vet for more treatment, at least for awhile.
His singed hair was shaved off and burned nose treated. He’s also struggling to urinate properly because of burns to his underside and is scheduled for surgery, Bruns said.
In the meantime Bucky, the neighbor’s goat that survived the fire, will join Prince in Davis as a companion.
While Prince is recovering from his injuries, Bruns and Hart are working to rebuild their lives.
In the short term they’re looking to rent property where they can reunite with their animals. They don’t plan on returning to the mountains. Instead, they hope to find a home in the valley.
Bruns said they hope to have a barn for the animals and electric fencing for the property.
She said whatever happens, the bonds she and Hart formed with their animals is stronger than ever.
“We will probably be closer,” she said. “We touched them all the time, we petted them all the time. I’m sure it will be even more now, they know that no matter what we will find them and they will be with us.”
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