As Arizona fire raged, homeowner raced to save her 50 pigeons

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Firefighters from Riverside County pay their respects as a casket containing the remains of Christopher MacKenzie arrives in Hemet. MacKenzie, who was from Hemet, was one of 19 firefighters killed last week battling the Yarnell Hill wildfire in Arizona. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A girl looks at photos of fallen firefighters Christopher MacKenzie, left, and Kevin Woyjeck in Hemet. MacKenzie was from Hemet and Woyjeck grew up in Seal Beach. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A procession carrying the remains of Christopher MacKenzie travels down Florida Avenue in Hemet. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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People in Hemet pay their respects to Christopher MacKenzie. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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An honor guard from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection carries the coffin of Christopher MacKenzie after its arrival in Los Alamitos. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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A hearse carries the remains of Christopher MacKenzie in Los Alamitos. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Flags and mourners greet a hearse carrying the remains of fallen firefighter Kevin Woyjeck at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos. Fellow firefighter Christopher MacKenzie’s remains were returned on the same flight. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Family members and friends mourn Christopher MacKenzie. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Loved ones of Kevin Woyjek gather as his casket arrives in Los Alamitos. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Brendan McDonough, right, the sole surviving member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew, hugs Darrell Willis, division chief of the Prescott Fire Department, during the memorial service. (David Wallace / Associated Press)

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Hearses carrying the bodies of 19 firefighters killed last week arrive in Prescott, Ariz., on Sunday during a procession that started in Phoenix. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters honor the procession as its arrives in Prescott. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Onlookers in Prescott. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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People in Prescott pay their respects as the procession travels through town. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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From left, Bentlee, Hemie, Kaysia and Ryan Sidwell release balloons for the 19 fallen firefighters. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Randy Hartt breaks down at a memorial in Prescott for the 19 firefighters. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Two women console each other at the memorial in Prescott. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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A water-dropping helicopter takes off in the Peeples Valley area, about five miles from Yarnell, where the 19 firefighters died. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Law enforcement members salute the fire vehicles left behind by the 19 members of the Granite Mountain hotshots. Two crew vans and a utility vehicle used by the firefighters were escorted back to Prescott. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Fire crews continue the mop-up operation in the Peeples Valley area. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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The ruins of a Peeples Valley home. Firefighters were aided Wednesday by rain and lower winds, and they were able to partially contain the Arizona blaze. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Thousands of people attend a vigil in the Prescott High School stadium for the 19 firefighters killed Sunday in Arizona. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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A man holds a sign at the community vigil at Prescott High School. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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There were hugs and tears between members of the immediate families during the vigil for the firefighters. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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People pay their respects during the vigil at Prescott High School. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Harry Warneke (back to camera) is comforted by a well-wisher as he visits the Prescott, Ariz., public memorial where his son, William Warneke, and 18 other firefighters were remembered. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighter Kevin Wyjeck is remembered with pictures on the fence surrounding Fire Station 7 in Prescott. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Members of the public have honored the fallen firefighters by decorating a fence surrounding the crew’s headquarters. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Nineteen crosses lean against the fence surrounding Fire Station 7. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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A couple embrace as they look at the memorial fence. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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The firefighters were killed Sunday when flames tearing through the town of Yarnell, Ariz., overtook them. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew mourn their fallen comrades during a memorial service in Prescott, Ariz. Nineteen members of the hotshot crew were killed battling the Arizona wildfire. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew at the memorial service. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Thousands of people turned out for the memorial service. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Claire Caldwell is comforted by her father, Steve Groom. Caldwell’s husband, Robert Caldwell, was one of the 19 firefighters killed. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Louan Heysck of Prescott salutes during the memorial service. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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A wildfire burns homes in Yarnell, Ariz., on Sunday. (David Kadlubowski / Associated Press)

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Tanker 910 makes a retardant drop on the Yarnell Hill fire to help protect the Double Bar A Ranch near Peeples Valley, Ariz. (Tom Story / Associated Press)

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Dean Smith watches as the Yarnell Hill fire encroaches on his home in Glenn Ilah near Yarnell, Ariz. (David Kadlubowski / Associated Press)

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This undated picture shows the Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshot crew of Prescott, Ariz. Nineteen firefighters were killed Sunday battling a fast-moving wildfire in Arizona, in one of the worst incidents of its kind in U.S. history, as flames ravaged homes and forced the evacuation of two towns. The firefighters died while racing to contain the Yarnell Hill wildfire about 85 miles north of Phoenix, in what Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer called “as dark a day as I can remember.” ( AFP/Getty Images)

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In a 2012 photo, the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew clears a fire line through the forest. On Sunday, 19 members of the Prescott, Ariz.-based crew were killed. The firefighters were forced to deploy their emergency fire shelters - tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and heat - when they were caught near the central Arizona town of Yarnell, according to a state forestry spokesman. (Connor Radnovich / Associated Press)

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Homes burn as the Yarnell Hill fire burns in Glenn Ilah near Yarnell, Ariz. The fire started Friday and picked up momentum as the area experienced high temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions. (David Kadlubowski / Associated Press)

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This still image from video provided courtesy of KPHO-TV / CBS-5-AZ.COM shows smoke rising from raging wildfires in the hills near Yarnell, Ariz. (AFP/Getty Images)

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This still image from video provided courtesy of KPHO-TV / CBS-5-AZ.COM shows fires raging in the hills near Yarnell, Ariz. (AFP/Getty Images)

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Aerial view of the Yarnell Hill fire, near the town of Yarnell, Ariz. (AFP/Getty Images)

By Rick Rojas

July 2, 2013 6 AM PT

PRESCOTT, Ariz. - It wasn’t the recollection of the “wall of fire,” the blaze sweeping through the scrubby terrain, that caused Cindy Carrillo to take off her glasses and wipe away tears.

It was something that came before, on Saturday night, when she was fearful about what would come. She had to release her birds.

Carrillo, a 55-year-old with a mane of dark curls and round spectacles, kept 50 pigeons on her property, a secluded acre or so, in Peeples Valley, about three miles as the crow flies - pigeon flies? - from Yarnell. She had kept the birds for years, starting with injured ones she’d find through her work as gardener.

PHOTOS: Yarnell Hill fire

“It’s like they’re my kids,” she said. “I was telling them: Fly! Get out of here!”

She built a home for them outside her own - a loft, she calls it. It’s the size of a carport, and she had to learn carpentry to finish it.

“It’s me and them,” she said, sitting on a cement bench outside the Red Cross shelter where she had sought refuge. “I live alone in the middle of nowhere.”

Pigeons are under-appreciated creatures, in her view, and certainly misunderstood. They’re smart, Carrillo said, and perceptive. “They’re very gregarious,” she said. “They’re very good friends.”

They’re social creatures too. That’s how her flock has grown. “He’ll fly off,” she said of a male, “and he’ll come back with a bunch of girlfriends - let’s start a colony, you know!”

But on Saturday, as she saw fire conditions getting worse, she grew fearful. Pigeons aren’t like dogs, or even parakeets: There was no place to take them. So she encouraged them to fly away, she said, throwing out “a whole mess of food” to entice them to flee.

“It’s just hard to walk away,” she said, “because they expect me to come home any minute.”

On Monday, she stood firm in believing she did the right thing. The Yarnell Hill fire was so swift that by the time it came close enough for a mandatory evacuation to be implemented in her area - about 2 p.m. on Sunday - there would have been no time to let out the birds.

“The fire was so fast I barely got my boots on,” she said.

She heard Monday that her home had survived, though she hadn’t confirmed that. But her mind is focused on the birds, and whether they made it out alive or were killed by smoke inhalation.

Carrillo remained hopeful. Even through her tears, a glimmer came to her eye and a grin crossed her face. She believed some of them would be there waiting for her when the time came to go home.

“Yeah!” she said, her voice more cheerful. “They’re homers! You can’t get rid of a pigeon.”

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rick.rojas@latimes.com

Twitter: @RaR