THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. –  This Red Cross shelter at the Thousand Oaks Community Center can hold about 400 people during the day and 200 overnight.

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Sam Ralston came to the shelter after he got mandatory evacuation orders Wednesday morning. He had a little more than an hour to leave his home.

Leaving without his dogs wasn’t an option.

Ralston was born in California and moved to Thousand Oaks as a teenager. For several fire seasons he has gotten evacuation orders.

He’s not sure how it will turn out this time.

“It’s just sort of becoming the norm now I think up here with all these Santa Ana winds, the dry weather, the hotter weather, all that sort of stuff, so we’re kind of getting used to it to be honest,” said Ralston.

The Red Cross shelter does allow pets if they’re in containers.

“We want to stay in our home. We want to sleep in our beds. We don’t want to sleep somewhere else, but at this point… We got used to it so it’s our norm now,” said Ralston.

With his family and pets the journey will be bearable.