Hornbrook, Ca — With major fires there is little time to react, and often some get left behind.
Siskiyou County Animal Control went door to door, looking for pets left behind because of the Klamathon Fire.
It all happened in a flash, the Klamathon Fire tore through the community of Hornbrook.
As the fire still raged around them, Matt Rokes and other volunteers were rounding up those left behind.
“It was crazy, this place looked like Dante’s Inferno, we were running, trying to stay ahead of the fire, turning them loose, loading them in trailers, doing whatever we could to get them away from the fire,” said Rokes.
Part of Animal Control’s job is going door to door, making sure animals like this mule here are safe and have enough to eat if their owners are kept away due to evacuation.
“It’s what we do for a living anyway, most of us are ranchers or hobby ranchers. We’re pretty skilled trailer operators and animal handlers. And we’ve been doing this for quite a few years,” said Rokes.
Those skills likely saving dozens of lives as the inferno surrounded Rokes’ community.
“Couldn’t count em, there was herds of horses, pigs, sheep, didn’t save them all, I don’t think but we got as many as we could,” said Rokes.
Until the fire is contained, he’ll keep knocking on doors, making sure every Hornbrook citizen is safe.
“Just try to do what we can do to make sure there’s no more loss.”
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