By Wes Woods
The Daily News
LOS ANGELES — Little Tujunga Hotshots Fire Captain Joel Gonzalez and his girlfriend Cristina Lorenzo spent their Saturday trying to find their 3-year-old French bulldog Taco, who went missing during the Creek fire.
“Someone has seen Taco ... the biggest thing for us is he’s safe and we want him home,” said Gonzalez, 32, of Sylmar on Saturday in between putting up flyers for the dog.
A search team of about 25 people, which included Gonzalez and Lorenzo, began in Pacoima and went to look for Taco and post flyers of the dog’s image in the surrounding areas. A $5,000 no-questions asked reward, which was announced last week, has also been offered for Taco, Lorenzo said.
“Once we saw nothing was coming about from news channels and social media ... that nobody was coming forward we felt desperate,” said Lorenzo, 32 who lives with Gonzalez and Taco in a home at the Little Tujunga Hotshots station in Sylmar. “Everybody in the community is saying they would turn him in for $100 or $500, but obviously the right person hasn’t seen it.”
Lorenzo said Taco, who “belongs” to Little Tujunga fire station, was last seen on Dec. 5 when her brother took him along with other dogs to their parents’ Lake View Terrace home.
He was seen near Fenton Avenue Charter School, also in Lake View Terrace, she added.
Friends like Ralph Nava, 41, who used to work with Gonzalez at the Hotshots station in Sylmar, joined them around 1 p.m. at 12560 Filmore St. in Pacoima.
“I knew Taco as a puppy,” Nava said. “He was our station dog. Whenever we’d be at the station you’d see Taco running up the driveway. He was very playful, you couldn’t even go to that station without knowing he was there. He knew all the guys. Even if he didn’t know you, he’d still go up to you.”
The group started around 1 p.m. at 12560 Filmore St. in Pacoima putting up signs and looking around before they headed off to San Fernando Park in San Fernando.
At the San Fernando Park, local resident Sean Fainsan, 40, was with his family and Lorenzo handed him a flyer.
“I’ve heard all about it,” Fainsan said to Lorenzo as she handed him a flyer. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”
After San Fernando, they were headed to Sylmar, Sunland and Mission Hills, Lorenzo said.
Previously about 50 people searched for him on Dec. 10 at Fenton Avenue Charter School at 11828 Gain Street in Lake View Terrace and covered the area, Lorenzo said.
A Facebook page and Instagram page have also been created to help find Taco.
If anyone has information on the dog, they are asked to call 818-302-9944.
Copyright 2017 The Daily News
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