JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Seventy-two large wildfires are burning across the country, forcing widespread evacuations. And it's not just people who need places to stay, their pets do, too. Colorado Public Radio's Molly Cruse reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOGS BARKING)
MOLLY CRUSE, BYLINE: At the front desk of the Humane Society of Fremont County, Tina Laudahl leans with her head in her hands.
TINA LAUDAHL: If God gives me any more to deal with, I'm going to break (laughter).
CRUSE: Just 6 miles away, Colorado's largest wildfire is burning across four counties. The shelter has become a refuge for evacuated and rescued pets. Outside, her wife, Jamie, waits in the car with one of their seven dogs, a nervous boxer named Tucker, and two bearded dragons. They escaped with little more than a change of clothes, and now they're hoping someone can take their reptiles.
LAUDAHL: Your animals are definitely going to be going with you 'cause they're just like family, so you're going to get them to a safe place. In fact, we did that first, and then we figured out what we were going to do as adults.
CRUSE: They only had minutes to evacuate. They managed to find other safe places for their horses, donkeys, chickens and four cats. Other people weren't as lucky.
(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLE DRIVING ON GRAVEL)
CRUSE: An animal control truck rolls down the dusty gravel road towards the shelter. Tires crunching down the road has become an all-too-familiar alarm bell for the staff. It means another animal has been found. In the truck's bed, two small dogs lie in metal kennels. They're quiet, wide-eyed. Their fur is matted with burs and caked with dirt after days on their own. Animal control found them wandering inside the evacuation zone in triple-digit heat. No one knows where their family is.
SUSAN FREDINBURG: They're going into the evacuated area right now for people who left their pets there because they didn't have time to get them out.
CRUSE: Shelter director Susan Fredinburg says these are just two of dozens of animals arriving every day. Just miles from the evacuation zone, the shelter is caring for more than twice as many animals as usual.
FREDINBURG: I'm not evacuating three or four dogs. I'm evacuating over 80 animals. That's a lot of pressure.
CRUSE: So far, the shelter has been able to reunite all the evacuated pets left in its care with their owners. But the animals that were found wandering the evacuation zones are still waiting to be claimed. For NPR News, I'm Molly Cruse in Denver.
(SOUNDBITE OF SUMMER WALKER SONG, "FMT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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