Meet The Woman Who Escaped Wildfires On Her Bike With Her 70-Pound Dog In Her Backpack
Natasha Wallace thought she had only seconds to decide what mattered most as a wildfire tore through Santa Rosa. With flames racing nearby and traffic already backing up, she did what many people would call impossible, she went back for her dog.
What started as a frantic escape turned into a desperate bike ride with Bentley, her 70-pound dog, packed into a duffel bag and slung over her shoulders. The fire took her home and everything inside it, but it did not take the one thing she refused to leave behind.
And the way she got him out is the part people still cannot stop talking about.
Natasha Wallace was on the Santa Rosa campus where she studies when the fire broke out. She drove home just after 1 a.m., and all she saw were massive flames traveling across the highway.
She decided to stop and take a look and soon realized that she had to get out of there before the fire reached her. "It was like a flamethrower," Wallace told The Dodo. "I knew how fast the fire was going. It was really scary."
That was the moment everything shifted.
Natasha raced to her house, hurriedly packed a few bags, grabbed her dog, and drove off in her car, all within a matter of minutes. The traffic was so backed up in her neighborhood that they couldn't go anywhere.
"I sat in my car for about two minutes, and I could see the fire getting closer. I said, 'I’m not burning in my car.'" She decided it would be better to go back to the house.
She determined that she would get further with her bicycle than in the car. She ditched most of her belongings to carry one very precious thing with her: her beloved dog. "I knew the only thing that mattered was my dog. That was it."
"I emptied out a duffel bag that had clothes and some of my belongings," she said. "I told Bentley to sit inside, and he just hopped right in. It’s like he understood the situation. He knew something was wrong."
Natasha hung the bag with her 70-pound dog around her neck and drove off.
"It was hard. I was trying to avoid the branches and everything on the road. The first 2 miles were okay. I was going off pure adrenaline, or supermom strength," she told The Dodo. "Bentley just sat there the whole time, like a super good boy. His well-being was the only thing I cared about at that point."
It also echoes the firefighter who had to rappel down a steep cliff to save a puppy.
Even with the fire closing in, she kept going.
Luckily, someone saw them and offered her and Bentley a ride for the rest of the way. She lost her house and everything she owned, but they were both safe.
Bentley, the sweet boy that he is, helped Natasha through the hard times. "He’s been wonderful to cope with," Wallace said. "When I was at the shelter, all I had was my dog. I literally just hugged my dog the whole time."
That kind of comfort can make a terrible night a little more bearable.
They managed to stay with relatives while they rebuilt their lives. It has been tough on both Natasha and Bentley, but they survived. She lost a lot of her belongings, but she knows that the most important thing in her life is safe and sound with her.
"You can pack hundreds of dollars' worth of material things, but my dog is priceless."
Some things really are worth more than everything else.
Before Natasha’s bike escape, see how a doorbell camera helped stop a house fire.
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