CBS News journalist Jonathan Vigliotti rescued three dogs trapped in a Pacific Palisades home as the wildfires closed in and the neighbourhood’s roads became impassable due to powerful, relentless flames.
Andrea Pasinetti was in San Francisco for work and his wife, Sixuan, was overseas when news of the Los Angeles wildfires broke on Jan. 7. The dogsitter the couple hired couldn’t reach their home on Lachman Lane to save the animals.
Pasinetti told CBS News that he jumped on a flight back to Los Angeles immediately and was trying to make it back to his house to save his dogs Alma, Archie and Hugo. He said that his friend picked him up from the airport and they rushed to the Palisades with fire retardant supplies and blankets to save his pets.
Once they were close to the family’s home, they struggled to find a way into the neighbourhood as the police were at most intersections and not allowing anyone through.
“It’s this feeling of helplessness and devastation and also just the unknown,” he recalled. “Wanting to maintain hope, but also kind of bracing for the worst.”
@cbsnews It was a dramatic rescue. CBS News’ Jonathan Vigliotti was contacted by a stranger, who told him his three #rescuedogs were stuck inside his Pacific Palisades house – alone – as the the #PalisadesFire closed in. Jonathan and his producer, who were reporting on the #wildfires nearby, did not hesitate to help. With three lives at stake, they risked their lives to find the home, break in and search for the #dogs – all to help a stranger. The house burned down shortly after. Three rescue dogs were rescued again. Their owners relieved, grateful, and despite the devastation they endured, reminded that humanity — and heroes — do exist. Read more about this story at the linked article. #losangeles #california #pacificpalisades #firerescue
Pasinetti called his wife to discuss what they should do. They decided he could either continue to look for a way to reach their house or find someone who was already inside the neighbourhood. That’s when they saw CBS News’ Vigliotti reporting near the Palisades Charter High School, which was minutes away from their home.
They started to do their research to see if they knew anyone that would be able to get in touch with the journalist and sent him messages on social media. Eventually they found a friend who was a colleague of Vigliotti and they were able to get a message through to the journalist and his crew.
CBS News producer Christian Duran made the connection and sent Vigliotti and his cameraman to the house to rescue the dogs.
“We knew it was a tall order to extract all three dogs from the house,” Pasinetti said. “Obviously, Jonathan didn’t have a key to the house, so I told him to break whatever window he could and he managed to get into the house.”
Pasinetti’s three pets are rescue dogs and he explained they are already “pre-wired with a lot of anxiety” so he gave Vigliotti their favourite hiding locations around the house.
“The circumstance probably couldn’t have been any more dramatic,” Pasinetti said. “The house was surrounded by flames. I think it burned down a few hours after he was able to get the pups.”
Vigliotti managed to break the glass of the front door to enter the home and found all three dogs in different areas of the house.
“They managed to wrangle [Alma] somehow and I think they threw a blanket over her and kind of got her covered, then they proceeded to the second pup, Archie,” he said. “I imagine they had to lift the bed in the primary bedroom and extract Hugo.”
Vigliotti was able to load all three dogs into his vehicle with his crew and reunite the pets with their owner.
“Jonathan called and said, ‘We have the dogs,’” Pasinetti recalled. “And my first reaction was, ‘All three?’ I have never felt that mixture of joy, and relief, and exhaustion, and despair and gratitude towards someone.”
He added: “Three dogs who were probably, you know, scared out of their wits and confronted with folks they’d never seen. And they navigated the situation incredibly deftly and bravely. The generosity, and kindness and risk they put themselves through to get the dogs was really — I don’t know, I think it’s the best humanity has to offer.”
With the dogs safe and sound, the Pasinetti family is now dealing with the devastation of losing their family home. The Palisades Fire already is the most destructive in Los Angeles history, with at least 1,000 structures burned in the coastline neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades.
—With files from The Associated Press