Officer Talks About Rescuing Animals From Vacaville Shelter
VACAVILLE (CBS13) - Quick thinking Vacaville police officers sprang into action last week as the raging Nelson Fire quickly approached the Solano SPCA. The chaotic rescue was all caught on video.
There was no time to spare as officers arrived at the Vacaville SPCA. Flames were nearby and the animals had no way to get out.
Video from the body cameras of Vacaville police officers shows them in a race against time.
You can see an officer run in as smoke is coming down the hill, you can see flames, then officers evacuating cages, grabbing dogs and cats as fast as they can.
Officer Carly Stone came back to the shelter Monday to reunite with the three dogs she had in her patrol car when space in other vehicles ran out. She and a fellow officer weren't sure at first they could pull off a rescue.
"When we looked up on that hill and saw a massive cloud of smoke and flames starting to creep down the mountain...it's just not a good feeling. There was definitely a few moments when officer Jennings and I said, I don't know if we can get these animals out, we may have to leave them and we were heartbroken at that thought."
All the animals are safe tonight. Officer Stone credits that to a team effort with shelter staff, volunteers, and animal humane officers. A silver lining to the fire: six cats and six dogs that were temporarily housed while the shelter was shut down, have been adopted by their caregivers.
