Behind the lines of red-hot wildfires, volunteers save animals with a warm heart and a cool head

COHASSET, Calif. -- While firefighters continued to battle California’s biggest wildfire of the year, Norm Rosene was spending 18-hour days behind fire lines with a different task –- saving the animals.

Tucked in an old wooden barn in the decimated forest town of Cohasset in northern California, his team stumbled upon a freshly born calf that appeared to be just a few days old. Its mother protectively hovered over her baby while it nursed.

“It’s critical for us to get feed and water … especially because the temperature is supposed to go up to the hundreds over the next few days,” said the 66-year-old volunteer. “They drink a lot of water, especially the mom’s going to need water and food to be able to nurse the calf.”

He made sure any smoldering hay or small fires still burning near the barn were extinguished, alerted nearby firefighters and moved on to the next home.

With more than 26,000 residents evacuated due to the Park Fire and over 600 square miles (1554 square kilometers) scorched as of Wednesday, there were cats, dogs, chickens, horses, and goats left behind.

Worried owners depend on volunteers like Rosene to rescue their beloved pets and keep their livestock alive until they can return to their homes.

“If people can’t take their animals, they sometimes want to stay,” Rosene said. “So if we can come and help them take their animals, then they will come out of that disaster area and they are safer and they feel better because they didn’t leave their animals behind.”

When the Park Fire started last Wednesday, Rosene at first thought it wouldn’t come his direction. But by evening, the winds had changed. He and his wife Janice evacuated his home in Chico around 1 a.m.

“It’s almost terrifying because the wind was blowing and the fire was roaring and it’s coming right at you and the embers are like fireflies just darting all over the sky,” Rosene said, showing images of a blood red sky blanketed with billowing columns of black smoke.

But the fire burned through his area quickly and thankfully left his house intact. Within hours, he and his wife were already at work evacuating animals.

The couple began volunteering 12 years ago with the North Valley Animal Disaster Group, a team of now about 300 volunteers. They’re trained for all types of disasters, from floods to fires, and nearly every type of rescue you could think of – helicopter rescue, high angle rope rescue, search and rescue – as well as animal behavior and handling.

“That’s why our team is allowed to go behind fire lines and work within the fire disaster system because we integrate with them and we don’t get in the way of the firefighters,” Rosene said. “They like having us back there because when they find an animal they don’t know what to do with it.”

They’ve dealt with all types of animals, and Rosene is team’s designated snake-and-lizard handler. He’s even evacuated two giant emus and their chicks. Every pet is worth saving.

For large animals, the goal is to keep them where they are, as long as they’re safe.

“When they get stressed by fire and smoke … now you try to load them into a trailer or truck it can be a real challenge,” he said.

If they have to be evacuated, Rosene and others will coax them into the back of their trailer and take them to the Camelot Equestrian Park. Smaller animals like cats and dogs are taken to an emergency shelter in Oroville.

Sometimes owners will bring in their animals if they are unable to care for them, Rosene said. There are about 100 in the small animal shelter and 70 in the large animal shelter from the Park Fire, and they are taking care of 850 more within the evacuation area.

Even if the fire is out in an area, it can take days for an evacuation order to lift. Crews have to clear the numerous hazards that appear in the aftermath of a fire, such as falling trees and power lines, exposed nails and broken glass, and tree holes filled with embers.

During the devastating Camp Fire in 2018, which destroyed several towns including nearly the entire community of Paradise, Rosene and others helped more than 4,000 displaced animals. He and group founder John Maretti have traveled to more than a dozen countries to teach and respond to disasters.

“If there’s one lesson here, it’s for people to be prepared to take their pets with them during a fire,” Rosene said. “So if they have a go bag for themselves, they should have a go bag for their pets.”

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Associated Press reporter Jaimie Ding reported from Los Angeles.