Hundreds of animals have been displaced as a result of the devastating wildfires unfolding in Los Angeles, due to owners unable to find accommodations or getting lost in the chaos. But one man who lost his home in the Palisades Fire had a happy ending when he was reunited with his beloved dog a full five days later.
Casey Colvin was at work on Tuesday when evacuation orders were first handed down for Pacific Palisades residents. He spent five hours fighting traffic to rescue his two dogs, but was ultimately unable to reach his home. A firefighter offered to go to Colvin's property to search for the dogs and was successful in rescuing one of the pooches, Tika Tika Tika; however his second dog named Oreo ran away.
During his ordeal, Colvin encountered NBC News correspondent Liz Kreutz, who was covering the fires, telling her: "I literally rescued them off the street. They deserve better than that. How do I get to my house?"
Within hours of the evacuation order, Colvin's house burned down, however Kreutz continued to assist him with locating Oreo, posting about him her Instagram account. Reports of sightings came trickling in from neighbors, and then on Sunday, a dog tracker he had been working with spotted Oreo in the rubble of a neighbor's home.
Both Colvin and Kreutz rushed to the scene, where she filmed the heartwarming reunion. At first, Oreo was reluctant to come out of his hiding spot, but then quickly rushed to greet his owner, who was overcome with emotion.
The BEST news! Fire victim Casey Colvin, whose home burned down in the Palisades Fire, just found and reunited with his dog, Oreo, who spent 5 nights surviving amidst the rubble ❤️ @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/rAuJJk3pfa
— Liz Kreutz (@LizKreutzNews) January 12, 2025
Before being reunited with Oreo, Colvin told Kreutz that he had been planning on sleeping in front of his house after curfew, but firefighters told him that the winds were too unpredictable.
"Right after I left the perimeter I got a call from my neighbor that Oreo was sleeping next to the chimney of his house and that his contractor had tried to chase Oreo and the dog ran off," he explained. "I also had two sets of firefighters call me and tell me that they had seen Oreo eat a bowl of food that I had left out for him to try and lure him out of the bushes, and the firefighters were kind enough to refill the bowl."
As of Monday morning, the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires had burned approximately 38,629 acres in the Los Angeles area, equating to about 60 square miles. And with winds expected to pick up, the unfolding disaster unfortunately seems far from over.
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