California Woman Flees Fires Carrying 70-Pound Dog in a Bag

Lori Ennis
by Lori Ennis
The California wildfires have destroyed the homes of many, as residents flee for their lives. One woman refused to leave without her dog, carrying him in a duffel bag on her bicycle.


California is seeing destruction and devastation by means of fires in epic proportion. As flames rapidly sweep along neighborhoods engulfing homes and burning them to the ground, people are fleeing with literally whatever they have on their backs.


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Natasha Wallace attends Santa Rosa Junior College and was studying until the early hours one morning last week. As she made her way back to her house, she could see the fires from the freeway and knew that she was going to have to evacuate quickly. The skies were gray and flames were all around, but Natasha said she was not leaving without her four-year-old Pit Bull Bentley.


She got him, and quickly began driving away, but got stuck in the traffic of others who were trying to get out of the fire’s way the best they could. Wallace said the fire was just too fast–staying in the traffic may have left them dead, and so she went back to her house to grab her bike.


Knowing she couldn’t leave Bentley, she also grabbed a big duffle bag and made a makeshift side-car for her 70-pound fur-baby. Calling Bentley her “Ride or Die” she begged him to just sit as still as he could so they could make their way away from the flames. She told him to get in, and he did, recognizing this was a serious situation.


She biked with him by her side for several miles and was able to get a few miles ahead of the fire when a man driving a truck pulled over and took both her and Bentley further out to safety. The man’s name was Paul Johnson, and Wallace said she couldn’t thank him enough for helping them.


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Wallace and Bentley are safe, though their neighborhood is changed forever, but she is thankful they survived and together. She said it wouldn’t be any other way, and she’d do whatever she had to do to save Bentley too.


People like her are my heroes.


Natasha has a GoFundMe set up, as everything else she had was destroyed, and she is looking for a place that will accept her and her big dog. She won’t consider leaving him with anyone else, or a shelter, as he is family, and if you’d like to donate, you’d be helping Bentley stay with his protective Mama.

Lori Ennis
Lori Ennis

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