* This Woman Came Home After a Wildfire Had Destroyed It and Found an Amazing Thing
The 2018 California Camp Fire, named after Camp Creek Road, where it originated, was one of the worst wildfires in U.S. history.
Covering an area of over 153,336 acres, destroying 18,804 structures, causing damage of about $16.5 billion - $4 billion of which were uninsured – and claiming at least 85 lives, Camp Fire was a catastrophe on a national scale. But although the fire was a tragedy of almost unprecedented proportions, it also gave rise to a lot of heroism, perseverance and kindness.
Image by Nilmerg / Depositphotos
One case which involves all three of these is that of Andrea Gaylord’s of Paradise, California, and her two missing dogs. During the evacuation, Andrea couldn't find her dogs anywhere. When it was time to go back, she didn't know what she's going to find.
Trouble in Paradise
Early in the morning of November 8, 2018, Butte County, California found itself ravaged by one of the worst wildfires in history.
Out of all of Butte County’s communities, the town of Paradise was hit hardest by the flames. With almost no warning, the fire, which had started in Camp Creek Road, east of Paradise, spread past the towns of Pulga and Concow, and quickly enveloped Paradise, jumping from one building to another and wreaking havoc. The denizens of Paradise were caught unawares – both due to the early morning hour, but also because the warning messages that were sent to them didn’t properly communicate just how pressing the situation was.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
Soon enough, though, it became clear that the town had to be evacuated – and there, among the rest of the fleeing townspeople, were Andrea Gaylord, her husband, and their two mixed Anatolian shepherds, Miguel and Madison.
A Spreading Wildfire
It is believed that the Camp Fire was first ignited due to an electrical discharge under a powerline at Poe Dam, near the unincorporated community of Pulga, at around 6:15 a.m. From there, it quickly spread, covering a distance of over 10 miles in less than two hours.
By 8 a.m., Paradise was in flames.
It was then that the Butte County Fire Department gave orders to evacuate the town, starting with its eastern-most neighbourhoods.
Image via Wikipedia
But with wind speeds approaching 50 miles per hour, the fire was spreading much more quickly than authorities had first anticipated – and getting people out safely became a real challenge.
Andrea’s Family
Andrea lived with her husband and dogs, two mixed Anatolian shepherd brothers whom they named Miguel and Madison, up in the eastern side of Paradise.
From their home, they had an almost unobstructed view of the Camp Fire as it quickly progressed over the valley and crossed the Feather River, which, in previous fires, had kept Paradise safe.
As warnings began to pour in on Andrea’s cell phone, she realized they would have to evacuate.
Image by Marcus Kauffman/ Unsplash
As she and her husband rushed to the car, carrying what precious belongings they could with them, Andrea called out to Miguel and Madison, hoping to get them into the car with them – but the two big, white dogs were nowhere to be found.
A Tough Decision
Andrea called out for Miguel and Madison over and over and over again, but as the fire crawled ever closer, she realized that if the two dogs won’t show up within the next few minutes, she would have no choice but to leave them behind.
Image by skeeze from Pixabay
Andrea continued to frantically look around for Miguel and Madison, but the flames were practically surrounding her home. She knew she had to make decision – and, reluctantly, got in the car and drove off, hoping that she couldn’t find the dogs because they had run away because of the fire, and were off, somewhere safe.
The Fire Rages On
By the time the fire had reached Paradise, its heat, speed and intensity meant that it no longer required dry vegetation to spread. Instead, it was hopping from house to house, and rescue forces were less concerned with putting it out as they were concerned about getting everybody out to a safe distance from the flames.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
Four hours after the fire had started, by 10 a.m., November 8, 2018, the town of Paradise, California, had been burnt to the ground.
Paradise Lost
A day after the fire had first started, Captain Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told KCRA radio that “Pretty much the community of Paradise is destroyed, it's that kind of devastation. The wind that was predicted came and just wiped it out."
The devastation was nothing short of overwhelming. By November 9, the fire had burned through 20,000 acres of land, and containment was not a real possibility.
By November 13, it had ravaged 125,000 acres, and by November 17, Camp had burned through nothing less than 149,000 acres. Its devastation could be seen from space.
Image by evdoha / Depositphotos
And while Andrea was at a safe distance from the fire, she hoped and prayed that her dogs were somehow alright. But could anyone survive such an inferno?
Waiting for the Fires to Subside
The California Camp Fire of 2018 raged for 17 days; from November 8 until November 25.
Most of the property damage, however, took place during the first four hours of the blaze.
Reaching a size of nearly 150,000 acres – and taking over 80 lives in the process – there was not much emergency services could do, other than to attempt to contain the fire along highways and other naturally occurring fire obstacles.
Image by zeferli@gmail.com / Depositphotos
After the fire had died down, the affected area remained closed off for the evacuated residents of Paradise. Still, the area wasn’t entirely closed off to people. Working among the wreckage were all sorts of volunteers – and one volunteer in particular had an eye out for Madison and Miguel.
K9 Paw Print Rescue
K9 Paw Print Rescue is an animal rescue group active in Northern California, from the Bay Area and all the way through Butte County. Like many animal rescue groups, they focus on freeing stray, abandoned and lost animals from shelters, and finding them safe, long term homes.
Image by @K9PawPrintRescue Home/ Facebook
But during the events of the 2018 Camp Fire, K9 Paw Print Rescue shifted their focus to helping the countless pets that were displaced by the fire. During the catastrophe, thousands of cats and dogs had fled burning homes and made their way to shelter. Their concerned owners weren’t allowed back on the scene, but K9’s volunteers were given access to the razed town – and one of them knew that Madison and Miguel could, possibly, still be in the area.
Shayla Sullivan
Shayla Sullivan is an animal and nature lover from Browns Valley – a community not far off from Paradise. During the fire, she found herself volunteering with K9 Paw Print Rescue, teaming up with fellow volunteer, veterinarian Dr. Sarah McCarthy, and going into Paradise, looking for missing pets.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
“We went pretty deep into the devastation until we found what we thought was the place… pitch black and desolate, we looked for two dogs. They HAD been sighted by workers so I knew they were alive,” Shayla wrote in a Facebook post detailing her expedition into the heart of Paradise’s darkness.
Invisible Dogs
“This became my ticket and each day I talked to Ann [Andrea],” Shayla continued in her account. “I kept the ‘difficult’ tickets as my own because I wanted to make sure someone got there each day. Ann always was so happy to hear my voice…. needing an ear and hoping for good news. Each day it was the same… I didn’t see them BUT I left them food and water.”
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
Shayla had a feeling both dogs were still alive and well, and, bolstered by the testimonies of the relief workers on site, continued looking for them each time she was able to get in to the burned town, and leaving food and water out – just in case.
Bringing Out the Big Guns
As the days went by, Shayla continued to look for the dogs. Her continued dialogue with Andrea instilled her with a sense of purpose. She came to realize just how much Madison and Miguel meant to her.
“As Ann and I talked more I came up with an idea,” she later recounted. “I’d boil chicken breast and take it in and leave it. Of course, no bones.”
Image by Alison Marras/ Unsplash
But even that wouldn’t prove to be enough to lure the dogs out – if they were there at all.
A Ticking Clock
With every day Shayla couldn’t find Andrea’s dogs, her sense of urgency intensified. She was allowed to enter the fire zone only for a set period of time, and once her days were up, she wouldn’t be able to return inside to keep looking for Madison and Miguel. And Shayla knew that if she didn’t look for them… no one else will.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
By this time, the fires had mostly died down, and Thanksgiving was coming around. Would there be a Thanksgiving miracle? Would Andrea finally be reunited with her pups?
Thanksgiving in the Ashes
“My time inside had come to an end,” Shayla wrote in a Facebook update. “I didn’t want it to, but powers above us forced us out. I gave it a final ‘me’ check on Thanksgiving Day. Still no sign of them. I called Ann to let her know. She was thankful. She had worried that no one would show up on Thanksgiving…. but I did.”
But despite Shayla managing to show up, Andrea’s dogs were still missing.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
“We still talked each day and I heard the sadness in her voice when I told her I had to turn in my ticket,” Shayla continued. “I assured her that a NEW fresh team was going in and I had left them detailed directions as to how to find the place.”
Persistence
Being an animal lover, Shayla had a good sense of what she was dealing with.
“I knew they were hanging around close to home BUT being guardian dogs, it would take persistence to lure them out,” she wrote.
Unfortunately, that kind of persistence wasn’t easily found.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
Without Shayla on the scene, Andrea couldn’t muster much hope for her pups… but then, something happened that would breath a new wind in her proverbial sails.
Finally, a Lead
“Yesterday I was working on other things up there and Ann called me,” Shayla updated her social media friends. It seems someone had spotted Miguel! “She said someone sent a picture of him to her flip phone that they had seen on FB. But she couldn’t find him.”
“I told her I’d check into it. Ann is older and disabled and the process was over whelming to her… she was told he went to All About Pets in Chico.”
But could it be as easy as going to the nearby pet store and finding him there?
Image by Joshua Hoehne/ Unsplash
“I called but they said they had not seen him,” Shayla continued. But then, where was that photo taken?
Not Your Local Pet Store
Shayla had made a promise to Andrea, and if she could help her find her dogs outside of the fire zone, she was going to do it come hell or high water.
“I decided to put a post on the Camp Fire lost pets’ site,” she wrote. “Almost immediately Arian Kaloke messaged me as well as many others. Arian works at All About Pets… IN CITRUS HEIGHTS.”
Citrus Heights, for those unfamiliar with Butte County, is nearly 75 miles south of Paradise.
Image by Justin Smith/ Wikipedia
“Our boy had went for quite a ride and got lost in the shuffle,” Shayla concluded.
Going the Distance
While Andrea was overjoyed to hear that at least one of her dogs had made it, driving over to get him was more of a problem, due to her disability.
Image by Samuele Errico Piccarini/ Unsplash
“Ann was nervous to go too far… she and her husband are sheltering in Oroville and driving far was a hardship,” Shayla explained. But that wouldn’t deter the intrepid volunteer. Shayla told Andrea that she would go get him for her. “It was a 6-hour process to get claiming him in order,” Shayla elaborated. “Clearance was necessary from Butte County to insure he was Ann’s dog. I was impressed we had to do this.”
Meeting Miguel
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
The Ride Home
“The ride home was quiet and he looked so sad,” Shayla recounted. “I’m sure he was wondering ‘What now, can I please go home?’
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
"I kept the windows down and about froze to death…. Miguel likes it cold so of course I obliged him. I had to grab him an igloo and supplies at the donation center in Oroville. Then we were off to reunite him with his people.”
A Bittersweet Reunion
Finally, Shayla arrived at the Shelter Andrea and her husband were staying at in Oroville.
“I met Ann in the parking lot,” Shayla continued in her Facebook post. “I hugged her and she said ‘Follow me in.’ I no sooner got back to the truck and Miguel was up and sniffing… wagging his tail and happy. He couldn’t wait to unload. He was reunited with his people.”
But despite being happy to meet his family again, Miguel soon stopped wagging his tail once more. “We led him into the house and he laid down and was sad again… he thought he had made it home…. I think he misses his land,” Shayla surmised.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
But it wasn’t just his land that he was missing. His brother, Madison, was still nowhere to be found.
Anatolian Shepherds
Miguel and Madison are two big, white, shaggy dogs – with a very proud heritage.
The two canine brothers come from a long line of Anatolian Shepherd Dogs; big, powerful dogs with roots in Turkey that go back for nearly 6,000 years.
Image by Jon Mountjoy/ Wikipedia
While most dogs probably wouldn’t have stood a chance surviving the Camp Fire inferno, Anatolian Shepherds are one of the only breeds perfectly suited for the harsh conditions the Butte County wilderness threw their way. Why? Let’s find out.
Perfectly Adapted
Anatolian Shepherd Dogs were bred to meet the very specific requirements posed by herding sheep through the Anatolian mountains.
First, they needed to be able to withstand the extremely hot, dry summers of their native land, as well as its frozen winters. On top of withstanding radical temperature shifts, Anatolian Shepherds also needed to be able to travel great distances throughout the Central Anatolian Plateau, as their nomadic owners moved their flocks from one grazing area to another through hills, valleys and mountain ranges.
Image by Kyle Taylor/ Wikipedia
These dogs were perfectly adapted for these conditions – which, as it turned out, were the exact conditions they would face in the burning Butte County wilderness.
Back to Their Routine
As soon as Miguel was reunited with Andrea and her husband, things began to feel a little more like home.
“Ann and her husband began to bicker about where Miguel would stay. It made me giggle because it was life going on despite how hard it was shaken up. A couple being them in their new, temporary home,” Shayla wrote.
But getting back into a routine would take time.
“Later Ann texted me that of all the places, Miguel chose the car to sleep in. Makes perfect sense to me, it smells the most like home.”
Shayla went back to her own home that day, content in the knowledge that she had done her job well. “Not all reunifications are wags and wiggles,” she wrote. “Some are just a sigh of relief and the comforting smells of home.”
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
But while Miguel was back home, there was still the question of Madison’s whereabouts.
Looking for Madison
Andrea and Shayla had more to go on than just hope, when it came to finding Madison.
“I had sighted Madison a few times deep in the Canyon,” Shayla said, “but knew he took his job seriously and wasn’t going to be an easy catch.”
Still, “not easy” doesn’t mean “impossible” – and letting him continue to wander in a desolate, burnt out wasteland wasn’t an option, either.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
Luckily, something Andrea had told Shayla gave the K9 volunteer an idea.
Keeping Madison’s Hopes Up
Shayla knew that it wasn’t just Andrea’s morale that needed to be maintained. Madison, too, would need his spirits bolstered if he was to survive out in the wild until someone would be able to reach him and reunite him with his family.
Illustration. Image by @shannonsoyars/ Instagram
“After meeting Andrea in person when I took Miguel to her, I had the idea of placing an article of clothing that would smell like her to keep Madison’s hope alive until his people could return,” Shayla wrote in another Facebook status update.
A Waiting Game
Over the next few weeks, Andrea, along with Miguel and her husband, waited patiently at the shelter while authorities worked diligently to clear and clean up what was left of Paradise.
During this time Andrea was on edge – would Madison be able to survive out there on his own for so long?
Finally, the day came when Andrea, along with the rest of the Camp Fire survivors, was allowed to return to her property and see what was left of her home.
Ilustration. Image by @esnyd10987/ Instagram
Shayla came in her truck to pick her up, and with Miguel by her side, they began the drive up to the ridge overlooking Feather River, which had once been Andrea’s home.
Driving to the Property
As Shayla and Andrea drove through the destroyed town, Andrea couldn’t help but feel a little emotional.
Image by Esther Tuttle/ Unsplash
This was, after all, her first time seeing the place that had been her home after it had been destroyed by the fires. But more than she feared for her home, Andrea was thinking about Madison. Would he be there? Would he be alright?
Pulling Up the Driveway
As Shayla and Andrea pulled up to Andrea’s property, they could see a big. shaggy, furry, white blur approach them. It was Madison!
“He followed the truck, so he must have sensed Miguel was aboard. He was wagging his tail as if to tell me ‘I know you from around here, I think you’re pretty ok,’” Shayla wrote.
Image by @K9PawPrintRescue Home/ Facebook
“He had stayed to protect what was left of his home, and NEVER gave up on his people! I’m so happy I’m crying as I write this! He didn’t give up through the storms or the fire! A LOOOOONG month it must have been for him!”
Back to Work
“Reuniting Miguel and Madison was amazing,” Shayla summed up the experience.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
But the dogs, dedicated to what they felt was their mission, didn’t stay sentimental for long. “They said their HELLOS,” Shayla wrote, “and then went back to work. Miguel took Guard over the lower part of the property and Madison took the top. It must be such a RELIEF for Madison to have his partner back. I’m sure it makes his job that much easier…. we looked around and still are amazed that both dogs survived. It’s a true testament to the instincts these dogs have. Their people lost multiple family homes. Andrea’s spirit is uplifting and she hopes to rebuild a new home for the boys to watch over.”
A Testament to Duty
Illustration. Image by @millennial_homesteader/ Instagram
True Heroes
It seems like everyone involved in this story is a true hero.
Shayla Sullivan, who had selflessly dedicated countless hours of working in the fire zone of one of America’s worst wildfires in history, is, by all counts, a hero.
But so is Andrea, who had lost her home and her property to the flames, but who was more interested in her dogs’ wellbeing than she was in her own, and despite her disability did everything she could to make sure her pups were safe.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
Finally, Miguel and Madison are true survivors who’ve literally been through fire and brimstone, and come out alive and well on the other side – and still tending to their duties.
An Affirmation
After Andrea returned to her Paradise property and found Madison still there, she was visibly shaken and relieved.
"It was like there is a higher power,'' she told NBC’s TODAY show interviewer. "It was like a sigh of relief. It was affirmation that these dogs are survivors."
Image via Wikipedia
But it’s not just the dogs who are survivors; Andrea is as well.
Coming Together as a Community
Andrea, Shayla, Madison and Miguel’s story is a beautiful one, despite its backdrop of tragedy – but it’s not their story alone.
In the face of catastrophe, the entire Butte County community had come together to support each other and lend a helping hand.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
Without the kind strangers who had taken care of Miguel while he was wandering through the countryside, the volunteers keeping an eye out for white dogs in Paradise and letting Shayla and Andrea know about them – not to mention the firefighters and first responders – none of this would have been possible.
Getting Back on Their Feet
Andrea and her family had lost more than one house in the 2018 Camp Fire.
As property owners who had made a living by renting out homes to tenants, the fire had not only destroyed their home, but their livelihood as well.
Luckily for them, Shayla Sullivan had not stopped caring for Andrea’s family once the dogs were found.
In December 2018, she set up a GoFundMe page.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
“Madison’s family lost 9 homes in the Camp Fire as well as their jobs. I’d like to help them get a leg up so that they can return home as soon as possible,” she wrote – and so far, had managed to raise thousands of dollars to help them.
An Inspiration
More than anything, this story has shown us that people are stronger than we usually imagine. In the face of adversity, a single volunteer has taken it upon herself to help a family regain what they had lost, and through sheer willpower and determination – not to mention a lot of patience – has done just that.
Image by Shayla Sulivan/ Facebook
Although the fire was devastating, one good thing it had managed to do was bring Shayla and Andrea together – and to demonstrate to the world just how loving and dedicated dogs can be.
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