Amid all the devastation and loss of the still-burning Los Angeles fires, some joy has been found as a man who lost his home in the Palisades fire was reunited with his lost dog, who survived five nights in the rubble.
In a post to her social media accounts on Sunday afternoon, NBC News reporter Liz Kreutz shared a video of a man named Casey Colvin emotionally reuniting with his pup, Oreo. According to Kreutz, she met Colvin on the first day of the fires, and assured people that he did not intentionally evacuate without his dogs.
“He wasn’t home when the evacuation notice went out and was desperately trying to get back home to get them,” she explained in a follow-up post.
In the caption of an Instagram post, Kreutz elaborated that Colvin “was in distress trying to get back to his home in the Palisades to get his two dogs, Oreo and Tika Tika Tika.”
Earlier in the week, a firefighter saw him crying and came to help, taking Colvin’s address and going back to the house himself to see if he could get the dogs, as it had not burned yet. The firefighter was able to locate and grab Tika, but Oreo ran out of the house and was missing. Sadly, Colvin’s house burned down shortly thereafter.
“Had that firefighter not offered to go get the dogs, both of them would have been trapped inside when the flames came,” Kreutz wrote.
She and Colvin both shared photos of Oreo hoping a neighbor would spot the pup, and on Sunday, Colvin was able to reunite with the animal. According to people who had spotted Oreo, he was sleeping in the chimney of Casey’s neighbor’s home.
Scooping the pup into his arms, Colvin broke down crying and ran into the street cheering. You can watch the moment in the video above, and we recommend you have tissues on hand.
For more information on the Los Angeles wildfires and the damage, you can check out TheWrap’s coverage here.
