--- title: California Police Save SCPA Cats and Dogs From Nelson Fire description: Police rescued 60 cats and dogs from a California wildfire on Saturday, in a daring mission captured by body cameras. canonical: https://time.com/5365311/nelson-fire-scpa-cats-dogs-rescue/ author: Billy Perrigo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-13T12:16:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:16.854Z og:title: Video Shows Daring Mission to Save Animals From Wildfires og:description: California cops saved 60 cats and dogs og:url: https://time.com/5365311/nelson-fire-scpa-cats-dogs-rescue/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b4fcf91bb628c32/698937a022fb85c681e26697/nelson-fire-animal-rescue.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Nelson Fire Animal Rescue og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Video Shows Daring Mission to Save Animals From Wildfires twitter:description: California cops saved 60 cats and dogs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b4fcf91bb628c32/698937a022fb85c681e26697/nelson-fire-animal-rescue.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Police Video Shows a Daring Mission to Save Dozens of Shelter Animals From Wildfires  by [Billy Perrigo](/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Aug 13, 2018 12:16 PM CUT  A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop as the Holy Fire burns near homes on August 9, 2018 in Lake Elsinore, California. A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop as the Holy Fire burns near homes on August 9, 2018 in Lake Elsinore, California.Mario Tama—Getty Images  by [Billy Perrigo](/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Aug 13, 2018 12:16 PM CUT Police rescued 60 cats and dogs Saturday from a California animal shelter threatened by [wildfires](http://time.com/5364151/california-wildfire-smoke-east-coast/ "undefined") in a daring mission captured by the officers’ body cameras. The animals were housed in an SPCA building that looked as if it were in the path of the Nelson [Fire.](http://time.com/5353749/california-fire-map-2018/ "undefined") The fire burned through 2,162 acres in Solano County in the north of the state before being contained on Sunday. Video from the rescue shows police, staff and volunteers hurrying to usher cats into cages and putting leashes around the necks of dogs, with smoke from the fire rising in the background. Police said all the animals were saved and placed in foster homes overnight. On Sunday, the Solano SPCA requested animals be returned to the building, which avoided damage from the fire. “All of the animals are out of the shelter for the night and the shelter wasn’t damaged,” the Solano SPCA wrote on Facebook. “We are smokey but we are OK.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5365311/nelson-fire-scpa-cats-dogs-rescue/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5365311/nelson-fire-scpa-cats-dogs-rescue/"},"headline":"Police Video Shows a Daring Mission to Save Dozens of Shelter Animals From Wildfires","datePublished":"2018-08-13T12:16:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:16.854Z","description":"California cops saved 60 cats and dogs","url":"https://time.com/5365311/nelson-fire-scpa-cats-dogs-rescue/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Wildfires","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b4fcf91bb628c32/698937a022fb85c681e26697/nelson-fire-animal-rescue.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Billy Perrigo","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b4fcf91bb628c32/698937a022fb85c681e26697/nelson-fire-animal-rescue.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nelson Fire Animal Rescue","caption":"Nelson Fire Animal Rescue","creditText":"Mario Tama—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5365311/nelson-fire-scpa-cats-dogs-rescue/","name":"Police Video Shows a Daring Mission to Save Dozens of Shelter Animals From Wildfires"}}]}] ```