A 19,500 acre wildfire in California has had devastating effects on the area, costing many residents their homes.
From the fire's destruction, however, comes the uplifting story of a family pet's incredible survival. Ruthie Rosemary, a cat, survived in the area for five days before her owners returned and found her alive.
According to a Facebook post on the U.S. Forest Service's Shasta-Trinity National Forest page, Ruthie's owners, Debi and Jeff Brusatori had to leave their pet behind when they were forced away from the area -- because she jumped out of the car.
The fire was severe enough to melt aluminum parts of the Brusatori's vehicles, but Ruthie somehow came out of it unharmed aside from singed whiskers.
Ruthie was discovered when her owners heard her meowing from underneath a burned truck.
According to commenters on the Facebook post, Jeff Brusatori is a volunteer firefighter who stayed at his post to help crews fight the fire in other areas.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Ruthie Rosemary the cat survives wildfire! Out of devastation comes a heartwarming story about a family pet thought to...Posted by U.S. Forest Service - Shasta-Trinity National Forest on Saturday, August 8, 2015