![]() ![]() The night the Tubb's fire raged, Lang's own house, a half-mile away on Porter Creek Road, burned to the ground and 12 employees also lost theirs. (Photos Will Bucquoy/For the Press Democrat) “There were little fires I put out that were going to very severely impact something next,” said Lang, “and if next had caught on fire then who knows what happens from that point.”Ī Wildebeest soaks up the sun at Safari West. With fire coming down the hill, the luggage closest to the fire was left behind, the furthest was taken, Lang said, but as much as possible was returned in 48 hours. Lang remembers the night of last October's fires well: the preserve's overnight facilities were sold out and guests had to be hurriedly evacuated from 30 Botswana-style tents. Dubbed “the wildest party ever,” and officially entitled “Celebrating 25 Years of Conservation,” visitors will get to look back at Safari West's quarter-century of education and adventure in a setting the preserve calls “the Sonoma Serengeti.” The park's 25-year anniversary gathering is planned for the same weekend many will memorialize the most destructive wildfire in California history, and Lang and his team are seizing the moment to recognize the park's past and its resilience. “With animals, I've said to a lot of people, don't confuse expertise with luck. “The emergency planning we did with people was remarkable,” said Lang. ![]() He recognizes that his being there is what made the difference but he credits the preparedness of his team as well. On that unforgettable night, owner Peter Lang was able to singlehandedly save the 400-acre wildlife preserve by fighting it with a tangled chain of garden hoses, moving from animal enclosure to enclosure, after staff and family evacuated. 7 will mark two milestones at Safari West: celebrating the 25-year anniversary of the preserve's public opening, and the night one year ago, when the park and its creatures narrowly escaped being swallowed up by the Northern California wildfires.
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