Horses evacuated as brush fire near Newman Drive threatens ranches in Collier County

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. —

About 100 horses were evacuated after flames threatened ranches along Newman Drive in Collier County, prompting ranch owners and local equestrians to work together to get the mammals to safe shelter.

"It's always scary. You always kind of think it's not real until all of a sudden, at the last minute, you're watching it behind the barn," said Steve DiCarlo, owner of Benchmark Equestrian. "It was surreal at first, but then it kind of becomes reality real quick."

DiCarlo moved 50 horses from Benchmark Equestrian as the fire burned dangerously close to his barn. Lynn Switzer, owner of Everglades Ranch, also evacuated 25 horses.

"We got alerts on our phone that said there was a fire at 2740 Newman, which is my address, and the fire trucks all started arriving," Switzer said.

Crews set up operations at Switzer's horse boarding ranch to fight the flames. Switzer said she only needed to make one phone call to mobilize help.

"While I'm organizing at the barn, they can just start sending out requests from people for locations, trucks, trailers and so on," Switzer said. "Then, they just start coming."

Community members brought trailers to transport Switzer's horses to safe locations like Rose Apple Stable. Both Switzer and DiCarlo were able to return to their ranches to check in.

"We went back in, and they're like, 'Oh, hi, welcome back. You know, nice to see you. But you can't stay because the wind's going to change and, you know, get what you need to get. And hopefully you'll be able to come back tomorrow,'" Switzer said.

"You wish you could just go up and hug them all, but they do it for a living, so they're used to doing it," DiCarlo said. "We're so thankful that they are right here, so close to us."

Both ranch owners said their properties have not sustained any damage so far. They hope fire crews will make enough progress to allow the horses to return home tomorrow.

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