Family Returns Home to Note from Authorities Who Cared for Fish After They Fled Wildfires
Is there any part of the world that isn’t prone to experience some sort of terrible natural disaster? I don’t think so.
From tornadoes and typhoons, to earthquakes and mudslides, to lightning strikes and fist-sized hail, every area has its own risks. Yet there are some I’d rather face than others.
For instance, the American East Coast often has to face hurricanes. And while these terrible storms do a lot of damage, they also provide ample warning so that you can get away with time to spare.
Not so much wildfires, which can whip around on the vagaries of air currents. And the Carr Fire in California, which KTXL called the sixth most destructive fire in the Golden State’s history, has shown just how horrible an uncontained blaze can be.
Yet even with all of the destruction left in its wake, the Carr Fire has given people an opportunity to be gracious to others. For instance, KTXL made a special trip when Viktorya Ford of Redding, California, contacted them.
Ford said that she’d “been kind of camping out” next to an official cordon, hoping to learn if her grandmother’s property had survived the fire. News crews, though, had access, and they agreed to check and see if her grandmother’s house still stood.
When they came back out, they had good news: “We were able to tell Ford that there was only damage to her grandmother’s fence. The house was totally fine.”
Jerry Ogle also lived in Redding, yet he wasn’t so fortunate. CNN said that the Carr Fire burned his family’s home to the ground.
Still, Ogle’s father had only one request. He wanted his son to find a family heirloom, namely his grandmother’s wedding band.
Ogle approached the wreckage with little hope, but we he started sifting through the ashes, he discovered something. There in its original box lay the ring.
When another family learned that their home had ridden out the flames, there wasn’t cheering like you might suspect. Rather, an apprehensive father had to break some hard news to his young daughter.
After a father informed his daughter that her fish was likely dead, both were in for quite a shock when they returned home to a well-fed fish! Thanks CAL FIRE Engine 1489 & Corning Police Dept. for ensuring Grant was fed while his owners were evacuated due to the #CarrFire pic.twitter.com/Ole8DoJnpf
— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) August 11, 2018
According to Inside Edition, the unnamed family expected they would have to return home to a death in the family — the death of a pet fish. When they had fled the fire, they’d had to leave the daughter’s finned friend behind.
The dad told her that too much time had passed. The little beta fish, also known as a Siamese fighting fish, had to be dead.
Yet when they returned, a shock was in store. The betta had made it through just fine, and a note lay next to its bowl.
“Fed your fish a few sprinkles,” it read. “Sorry if we weren’t supposed to.”
It turned out that the police, while investigating for fire damage, had kindly saved the young lady’s precious pet, even leaving the date and time of the feeding. A small gesture, true, but an encouraging one for people going through a tough time.
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