Dog That Survived California Fire Found Waiting at Home a Month Later

Firefighters battle flames at a burning apartment complex in Paradise, north of Sacramento, California on November 09, 2018. Josh Edelson, Justin Sullivan/ AFP

A dog that survived the massive Camp Fire in California was found waiting at home by his owners when they finally returned weeks after the blaze forced them to evacuate.

The story was shared by Facebook group K9 Paw Print Rescue.

“Madison’s parents were unable to get home to him when the Camp Fire spread. They hoped and prayed he would be OK. When they finally got clearance to go back to the lot where their house once stood....Madison was waiting there for them as if he were protecting his former home. Never give up!!” the group wrote.

Shayla Sullivan, a rescue worker who helped look after pets following the devastation wreaked by the flames, said that she spotted the dog a few times while working and brought the owner Madison’s brother Miguel.

“I’m so HAPPY to report that Andrea was allowed to return to her property today and THERE MADISON WAS!!!! He had stayed to protect what was left of his home, and NEVER gave up on his people!” Sullivan wrote.

“I’m so happy I’m crying as I write this! He didn’t give up through the storms or the fire! A LOOOOONG month it must have been for him!”

Andrea Gaylord, the dog’s owner, said that the reunion was emotional. “Imagine the loyalty of hanging in in the worst of circumstances and being here waiting,” she told ABC 10. “It was so emotional.”

Sullivan said on her Facebook page that she put out food for Madison for weeks but didn’t actually see him until his owners went to the house.

“It was the BEST feeling having Madison meet our truck. After feeding him for almost a month, but NOT knowing he was for sure still there, seeing him was surreal. He followed the truck, so he must have sensed Miguel was aboard,” she wrote.

She said that the dogs’ owners plan on building a new house for the dogs to watch over, but for now they’re patrolling the property with vigilance.

Camp Fire Finally Contained

The Camp Fire started on Nov. 8 and burned through over 150,000 acres by the time it was finally extinguished on Dec. 6.

The fire consumed nearly 14,000 residences in addition to some 4,800 other buildings, and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate.

It also killed 85 people and injured three firefighters.

Hundreds of firefighters deployed to northern California to fight the flames and the group was eventually able to finish them off.

A video shot by former Lytro executive Steve Cooper shows the devastation in the town of Paradise, which was almost completely destroyed by the fire.

Cooper shot the video with a 360 camera and condensed it into a seven-minute video documentary.

“You could see across multiple neighborhoods in every direction; an uninterrupted view that would have been impossible before the fire,” Cooper told Engadget.

“What was chilling was to see massive steel gun safes which were sagging like they were made of wax and left out in the sun. And it was utterly quiet.”

From NTD News