BIG SUR, Calif. — Therapy dogs came to the aid of firefighters who have been battling a raging wildfire for the last two weeks.
The dogs arrived to offer the firefighters a form of stress relief and morale boosting, as efforts to contain the Soberanes wildfire continued.
“When you see your guys smiling and they’re tired — they worked really hard yesterday — but they got time to come over and play with the dogs. It’s kind of neat,” Santa Barbara firefighter Jim McCoy told ABC7.
Many firefighters haven’t seen their own pets in a while, so spending time with the dogs proved to be cathartic.
Two St. Bernards hung out with the firefighters last week, who made their rounds and greeted the many teams on site.
“I just can’t wait to get home and see my dogs, they’ll probably jump all over me,” one firefighter said.
The Soberanes wildfire has grown to 60,000 acres and is currently 45 percent contained, reported Capital Public Radio.