HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE (KRON) — It was a race today in the area affected by the Valley Fire — a race to try and save hungry, and in some cases, starving animals.
It has been nearly four days since pets have had any food or water. Sadly, not all pets were found alive.
Fifteen minutes is all that evacuees had to go into their homes to find their beloved pets left behind. For Debra Strum, she tried to leave with all of her animals, but the fire came in too quickly and she was trapped.
She lost her car keys and faced a wall of flames. Her nephew raced up the hill.
“I was paralyzed…I just couldn’t keep it together,” Strum said.
She gratefully got out. She and her husband didn’t find the cat. But left food behind.
In one home, Misty was with her owner. It is dark because in the fire zone, there is no working electricity.
“They are my babies, so glad we found them and got water to them,” Hidden Valley resident Jeffrey Avilla said.
It was not only rescue missions on Wednesday. One woman who was too heart broken to go on camera said she was trying to get in to bury her friend’s dogs, a lab and corgie.
She had tried to save her friend’s dogs but couldn’t – the flames were too much. Her friend was out of town.
The house burned down, killing the dogs. She wanted to go back in to bury the dogs to save her friend the pain of seeing her dead beloved pets.
On Tuesday, the CHP and other law enforcement made 180 trips into the fire zone.
They hoped to do a similar number Wednesday and the rest the week to help save the animals.