As the Emerald Fire raced down the hillside toward his home, Kris Spitaleri manned a hose to try to save over 100 rescued animals living on his family’s property.
The blaze burned up to a pen where Spitaleri cares for a flock of three emus. Protected only by an N95 mask and a long-sleeve shirt, Spitaleri could feel smoke burning his eyes and embers landing on his hands as he sprayed water.
“I couldn’t see for a couple of days,” Spitaleri said.
Although Emerald Bay and Irvine Cove avoided losing a single structure to the 154-acre brush fire, a tour of the hilltop home in North Laguna on Thursday showed just how close the fire came to residential neighborhoods.
Beavertail cactus were among the few plants still standing on a hillside turned to moonscape. Fine gray ash was still cast over the hillside after Tuesday’s thunderstorm. Spitaleri is grateful firefighters staged an engine to spray water onto landscaping and homes in his cul-de-sac and called in a fleet of firefighting helicopters that repeatedly dropped water on the hillside after refilling from a small lake at Pelican Hill Golf Club.
Over the years, Spitaleri has provided refuge to and rehabilitated hundreds of animals that are severely injured, abandoned, or just needed a new home. Species native to California are eventually released elsewhere if they’re able to fend for themselves.
Among the current menagerie are alpacas, Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, raccoons, squirrels, an opossum, an adult Burmese python, iguanas, Red-eared slider turtles, and African spurred tortoises. Several aviaries on the property house multiple species including pelicans, seagulls, ravens, crows, a peacock, a black swan, pheasants, geese, chickens, parrots, and dozens of doves and pigeons.
Spitaleri recalled how a Black Swan came to his aviary after it was abandoned at Lake Mission Viejo. A dog had mauled the swan and he wasn’t sure it would survive before he nursed it back to health.
Throughout the fire, Spitaleri said he felt more scared for the animals in his care than for his own safety.
“I put them in danger by being here but then at the same time they wouldn’t be alive either [without help],” he said.
None of the animals appeared burned or otherwise seriously injured when a reporter toured the property on Wednesday. Smoke inhalation was a big concern but not one critter required treatment by a local veterinarian, Spitaleri said.
“Kris is a very quiet and peaceful man, but for those who know him it’s not a surprise that he exemplified courage, feeling the fear but simply deciding that something else—in this case, the animals that depend on him—was more important,” said Penny Milne, a long-time friend of Spitaleri and Laguna Beach resident.
Amid the firefighting efforts, a net over one of the larger aviaries collapsed, small solar panels powering filtration systems for a pond melted, and some supplies for the animals caught on fire. Volunteers were also hard at work Thursday cleaning up mud that flowed onto the property during the storm.
Pacific Wildlife Project, has started a GoFundMe to raise $18,000 to help fund some of the fire-related repairs and ongoing expense of food for the animals. By Thursday afternoon, the campaign had raised $1,500. The Laguna Niguel-based nonprofit lists Spitaleri as a board member and unpaid development director, according to its tax returns.
Spitaleri is largely able to operate the animal sanctuary because of his parents’ investment in the spacious property.
Vernon and Cherry Spitaleri were well-known local business owners and philanthropists. Vernon Spitaleri played a role in the 1968 acquisition of the city’s Main Beach park, developing what is now called Providence Mission Hospital Laguna Beach, establishing the James Dilley Greenbelt Preserve, and helping break up the Laguna Art Museum’s controversial merger with the Newport Harbor Art Museum. The couple also owned and published The Laguna News-Post until 1981.
Kris was woken up by his brother Eric Spitaleri saying firefighters were at the front door to get residents to evacuate. During the 1993 Laguna Fire, the two brothers hauled buckets of water down their street to douse neighbors’ homes. The Emerald Fire forced them to once again rally to save the family home and animal sanctuary.
“We were working together and it was cool. It almost makes you wish there were tragedies every day,” Spitaleri said.
