If you're feeling both helpless and grateful as rains finally douse the catastrophic Camp Fire, you're not alone. But there are a lot of heroes stepping up to render aid who could use your support to make a big difference.
The all-volunteer North Valley Animal Disaster Group (NVADG) in Chico prepares all year long for dire emergencies. Its members train year-round, and when trouble strikes, they work within the emergency response system to assist the affected animals and their families.
As the fire destroyed over 14,000 homes, NVADG was able to send trained evacuation and rescue teams into the fire area to get animals to safety. At the same time, other volunteers worked to set up three emergency shelters (two for small animals and one for large animals and livestock) so that the evacuated animals had a safe place to land, in Chico, Oroville and Gridley.
NVADG's Norm Rosene (whose wife, Janice, is seen here with one of the dogs rescued from the fire) reports that both the field work (which also includes caring for sheltered-in-place animals whose families haven't been able to return yet) and sheltering operations continue. "Our goal is to reunify every animal with their owner," Rosene says. "At the peak of the fire situation, we had over 2,000 animals in the shelters." You can follow their frequent updates on their Facebook page.
For those of us whose dogs are family, it's great to know that resources like NVADG work so hard to provide rescue and sheltering when a catastrophe happens. Supported entirely by donations, they welcome your help and support. Please check them out at http://www.nvadg.org.
Photo: Getting fire victim to safety – North Valley Animal Disaster Group