Animal rescue volunteer returns to Loma Fire site to meet animal owner
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KGO) -- It was one of the most dramatic moments captured by Sky 7 of the Loma Fire as firefighters held back flames from a home along Loma Chiquita Road as horses and dogs ran scared.
"I retrieved two black labs from that site," said Stephen Restar. Resetar owns a tree trimming business, but his passion is with volunteering for Equine Rescue. Any time there's a wildfire, he loads up his truck and horse trailer, and heads for the flames.
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He has cell phone video showing just how tough it was trying to rescue horses that were frantic.
"They were just amped up and we had no way of calming them down," said Resetar.
He faced what would seem to be an impossible mission: to corral five frantic horses, save seven dogs and a parrot. It took Stephen and his partner more than four hours.
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"It just touches on my feeling about animals. I do not want to see animal suffer at all," he explained.
Resetar was taken to the same house to meet the owner of the horses he saved.
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"Oh, they are very important to me, they're like my kids, like my children because I was born like that," said Roman Dizon.
Dizon is a retired Santa Clara County Animal Control Officer, who was delighted to get his animals back.
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He still has to retrieve his parrot and his horses from the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. He has most of his dogs, except for a beloved elderly German Shepherd. Resetar made calls and found the dog in a shelter. She's on her way home.
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