The California National Guard has deployed 200 of its 610 Operation Jumpstart border troops to help at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and Qualcomm Stadium.
More National Guard troops are expected to come to the fairgrounds to comfort elderly patients who have not been sent to other facilities.
This morning, the first buslaod of 14 elderly patients were taken by a Camp Pendleton bus to El Centro, where they will be placed in a care facility away from the smoke.
Mark Crow, incident commander at the fairgrounds' makeshift medical facility, said 150 of the 300 elderly have been shipped out to various medical centers. The bulk of these patients came from a Rancho Bernardo nursing home.
In other parts of the fairgrounds, 1,500 to 2,000 county residents spent the night alongside their dogs, birds, cats, llamas, goats, two zebras and 2,500 horses.
About 600 of the horses were housed at the horse park, and the rest are on the fairgrounds in stalls. Fairgrounds public information officer Kina Paegart said the site cannot accommodate any more large animals.
Six portable showers, two toilets and two sinks are being transported to the fairgrounds right now to augment the minimal showers normally there for jockeys.
Source: SignOnSanDiego
