Horses evacuated from fire area

Horse owners have evacuated their animals from the path of the Nelson bush fire.

Vanessa and Allan, who preferred not to use their last names, rescued their two horses from their Eves Valley property and took them to stables at the Richmond Racecourse, which is housing livestock and pets from the fire. The couple are staying in a campervan at the racecourse.

Allan said he saw smoke on the hill as early as 2.15pm on Tuesday from his workplace in Richmond. He called wife Vanessa at home in Eves Valley, who looked out the window and saw smoke a few properties away.

Allan finished work early and they decided to self-evacuate about 5.30pm.

‘‘It was when I saw flames on the ridgeline, and we were out of there,’’ Vanessa said.

They had some difficulty getting their horses, Jake and Nat, on to the float, as they were agitated by the smell of smoke, but some friends came over to help, Vanessa said.

The couple had a restless night along with their horses.

They were allowed back through the cordon for 45 minutes to grab belongings from their property yesterday morning. ‘‘Our neighbour’s slash pile has burnt our fence down. He cut a couple of acres of pines down only a couple days ago. Well it’s all gone now,’’ Vanessa said.

Vanessa and Allan had a dozen cows and eight sheep at home. ‘‘We opened the gates and let them go for it,’’ Vanessa said.