With A 70-Pound Dog In Her Duffel Bag, Woman Escaped From Raging Wildfire On Bike

“He just hopped right in.”

In the midst of a recent wildfire in California, a woman named Natasha Wallace, a college student in Santa Rosa, was studying on campus when the flames started to ignite. After she was done, she drove back home and started to notice raging flames along the freeway. The fire was spreading fast – and it meant that her life was in danger. “It was like a flamethrower,” she says.

When she got home, Natasha hurriedly threw a couple of duffel bags into the trunk of her car – which contained her personal belongings. But she did not forget her faithful companion, Bentley. As she started to drive away to safety, she did not go far as traffic was halted due to the wildfire. It had greatly worsened.

Without a second thought, Natasha whipped her bicycle out and signaled her dog Bentley to come to her. She then emptied one of her duffel bags, which made room for her pooch – he hopped right in it. With a 70-pound dog in a duffel bag which she slung around her neck, Natasha pedaled away from her car, leaving the majority of her belongings and her car behind.  In an interview, Natasha stated: “I knew the only thing that mattered was my dog. That was it.”

She pedaled with “supermom strength”, and managed to get as far as two miles away from the fires. Bentley, according to Natasha, was extremely obedient during the escape ride.

Thankfully for the two, a truck driver who was passing by offered to give them both a lift to safety. However, like many other residents in that area, Natasha has lost both her home and her physical possessions.

Ms Wallace knows that the most important thing to her was safe from the natural disaster – her very own dog, Bentley! She happily states: “You can pack hundreds of dollars worth of material things, but my dog is priceless!”

Since the fire, both Natasha Wallace and Bentley are currently staying with Natasha’s relatives until she finds a new home for both her and her canine.

Would you have done so if you were in Natasha’s shoes?