POULSBO — A group of horse lovers proved their titles recently as they saved 18 equines from perishing in the Kamloops fires.

Imagine what they can accomplish when they’re not on vacation.

Four Poulsbo-area families recently set out for camping and horse-riding at the Jandana Guest Ranch in Kamloops, British Columbia. But their holiday was cut short on their last day when they became some of the between 80 and 100 visitors who have been evacuated from the estimated 352 fires still burning in the area.

“It was one of the most relaxing vacations I’ve ever been on but, boy, at the end there it was one of the most intense ones, too,” commented Viking Fence owner John Rosebeary with a laugh, later adding. “I told my wife, this is a vacation not soon forgotten about.”

The local group was led by Poulsbo’s Julie Gelderman of Poulsbo’s Sandamar Farms. They were the Behrenses of Masterworks, the Rosebearys of Viking Fence and the Wattses of Valley Nursery. Gelderman said she’s led three tour groups to the ranch previously and it is a popular excursion with her clients.

Gelderman has a friend about an hour and a half drive from the Jandana Ranch who called the morning of Aug. 1 with an urgent need — to have help evacuating her 18 horses, mostly mares and colts, from the encroaching McClure Fire.

“She was on the phone and she was just in tears because the (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) had just been there and told her, ‘You don’t have time to set the horses free. You have to get out right now,’” Gelderman recalled.

The families hooked up their trailers and set out through detours that took them dangerously close to some of the wildfires to help the stranded equines. They arrived just as flames were cresting above the farm.

“Now I know what a fireman feels like when he rushes back into a burning building,” Rosebeary said of the experience.

Although one horse was injured in the escape, Gelderman said the group was lucky to be able to get them all out alive.

“With the last load of horses, we saw people running down to the main road and just turning their animals free and letting them fend for themselves because they didn’t have any way to evacuate them,” Gelderman recalled.

After all 18 horses were in the clear, the group returned to their camp sites to find that they, themselves, were then in danger. They thought the Strawberry Hill fire was about 30 minutes north of them, however, the RCMP showed up shortly thereafter and told them they had 10 minutes to evacuate.

“My kids are 15, 13 and 7 and it was pretty scary when we had to evacuate. They were pretty nervous,” Watts recalled. “But I can imagine people having to pick up and leave everything. All we had was our sleeping bags and clothes.”

Since the fires had spread much quicker than originally thought, not only did the North Kitsap group have to evacuate themselves but the horses they had just moved had to be relocated again. This time, another group moved the 18 horses. They did so without harming any humans or animals.

The group members tell their stories of the unusual holiday with a bit of sheepishness. Gelderman said answering her friend’s call for help was the least she could do and actually she and her guests wanted to help further.

“We felt like cowards when we drove away from the city because there were still people who needed help,” Gelderman commented. “We wished we could have stayed and done more.”

“We did a good deed for someone but there were a lot of people doing good deeds up there,” Watts added.

Gelderman reported that the Jandana Guest Ranch survived the Strawberry Hill fire and the owners have returned to their property. Gelderman’s friend who lives nearby is still unable to return home because of threats from the McClure fire but as of last week, her home was still intact.