Some heroes have helicopters.
A heroic search-and-rescue team carried a stranded Rottweiler mother and her four puppies to safety via helicopter after their desperate owner was forced to abandon them while fleeing the devastating Park Fires in Northern California, heartwarming photos show.
The owner of the resilient canines was evacuating the inferno on Wednesday when her truck became disabled, according to a post by the Butte County sheriff.
“She had to jump in with somebody else, regrettably leaving the dogs,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told The Mercury News.
The resident alerted authorities to the location of her vehicle and the endangered animals, but initial attempts to go back to the area by rescuers were unsuccessful at first due to the blaze.
On Saturday, Butte County search and rescue team member Trevor Skaggs was finally able to reach the area by helicopter thanks to pilot Conner Smith.
Skaggs then ran one-and-a-half miles into the remote area — where he miraculously found the four puppies and their mother alive and well.
Unfortunately, the puppies’ father did not make it, likely dying of dehydration, Smith told Mercury News.
“All the puppies started barking at him, like, ‘Who are you?’” Skaggs’ wife Christina told the outlet.
“He was able to coax mom to take a drink out of his hand. Once she decided he was OK, all the puppies were like, ‘OK, we like you,’” she said, adding that his first dog was a Rottweiler.
Skaggs sang to the pooches and gave them bites of a granola bar before leading them to a nearby creek.
“They got all excited and just ran right after him. They just followed him like the pied piper,” Christina Skaggs said.
Once they arrived back at the helicopter, Skaggs and Smith worried about keeping the pups “contained” as the chopper’s interior had no barricade between the rear seating area and the cockpit, they told Mercury News.
The mom quickly snuggled up on a seat while her puppies “were all over the place — they were all up in my seat and the co-pilot’s seat and under the seats in the back,” Smith said.
It took about 10 minutes for the heroes to get the dogs to settle down, with one napping under the seats and another on the floor while the other two snuggled with Skaggs, while the mom put her head on the man who saved her.
The dogs were treated for dehydration and are staying at a shelter, where they have lots of playtime. While the shelter has been in contact with their owner, it is unclear if they’ll be reunited as she may have lost her home, the outlet reported.
The park fire is now the fifth-largest wildfire in California history. CAL Fire now estimates it has burned more than 386,000 acres as of Tuesday.
“It’s been a horrific few days for our community and we are grateful to be able to share this amazing story,” said the Butte County Sheriff’s Department on Facebook.
