A Los Angeles man whose house burned down amid the wildfires emotionally reunited with his missing dog five days after evacuation.
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In the heartwarming video by NBC News national correspondent Liz Kreutz, Los Angeles resident Casey Colvin was seen embracing his missing dog, Oreo, after the pup leaped into his arms.
“Oh, honey! Oh my God, you’re alive! You’re alive!” Colvin yelled while tearfully embracing Oreo.
Colvin then ran in circles and declared, “Yes! Oh, thank you, Jesus! Thank you, God!”
Speaking about the days-long frantic search for Oreo, Colvin told NBC Los Angeles that he was at work when he was ordered to evacuate his home. He then spent five hours in traffic trying to get home and save the pup, along with his other dog, Tika Tika Tika.
“I literally rescued them off the streets, they deserve better than this,” Colvin said. “How do I get to my house?”
Despite not getting inside his house, Colvin said a firefighter had offered to search for the pups. However, he was only able to save Tika Tika Tika. Colvin was told that Oreo had run off.
Not long after being told Orea was missing, Colvin’s home was completely destroyed by the blaze. Although he was now homeless, Colvin was determined to find Oreo. He started posting flyers of the pup online and even used an AirTag on the pet to try to locate him.
On Sunday, Jan. 12, Colvin shared that Oreo was spotted twice. The pup had been seen sleeping in the rubble of one of his neighbor’s homes.
Upon returning to where his home once stood, Colvin and Oreo were finally reunited. the dog had been hiding amid the dirt and debris.
Colvin and the firefighter who saved Tika TIka Tika also posed together in a pic.
A New Wildfire Erupts Outside of Los Angeles
One week after the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst wildfires started, another blaze erupted just outside of Los Angeles.
According to CBS News, firefighters are tackling a brushfire, known as the Auto Fire, which was first reported on Jan. 13. Ventura County Fire Department stated the fire was started near N. Ventura Boulevard and Auto Center Drive in Oxnard.
CalFire reported that the Auto Fire quickly grew from five to 10 acres, then to 56 acres hours later.
“Forward progress on the Auto fire has been stopped. The fire has been mapped at 55.7 acres with 0% containment,” Ventura County Fire Department officials stated on X (formerly Twitter). “Firefighters from #VCFD, Ventura City Fire, Oxnard Fire, and Federal Fire Ventura County remain on scene mopping up hotspots and working to increase containment.”
Officials then noted that the fire was confined to the river bottom and no structures were threatened. The cause of the fire is now under investigation.