James Benton is reunited with his dog Patches at the Rescue Ranch in Yreka. Benton feared Patches had been killed when McKinney’s fire engulfed his home. [Photo courtesy of Natalie Golay]
James Benton shot this photo hours before a fire tornado from the McKinney Fire tore through his property. His German shepherd, Trooper, seen here, is still missing.
The man is hopeful that at least one of his missing dogs has survived and is found
After narrowly escaping the flames of the McKinney wildfire last Friday, 42-year-old James “Mac” Benton couldn’t hold back the tears Sunday when he was reunited with his black-and-white puppy, Patches , whom he thought he had burned in the blaze.
He fell to the ground against a parked car, pressed his face against the wiggling 3-month-old puppy, overwhelmed with gratitude and “a precious moment” he never expected to receive.
Survivors of a literal inferno, Benton and Patches lived in the Walker Bridge area along the Klamath River near Highway 96. As the McKinney fire raged, Benton and his neighbors kept a close watch the fire burning on the opposite side of the river, which at the time appeared to be “at a good distance.”
Then came a fire tornado, a phenomenon in which flames transform into a whirlwind of fire, spiraling skyward with terrifying speed and power. Suddenly, Benton’s house was engulfed in unrelenting flames and strong winds.
“Everything was moving slowly when all of a sudden it shot up and created a tornado of fire, which I had never heard of before last week,” Benton said.
He and some neighbors ran to an RV. Benton made a desperate, last-ditch effort to corral his five dogs. Picking up his French bulldog, PeeWee, the least agile of the five, asked his German shepherd, Trooper, to follow him with a trio of pit bull/Australian shepherd mix puppies: Brutus, Tanner and Patches.
“Always the most hesitant pup,” Patches turned first. Trooper followed Benton a little further. After carrying PeeWee to the RV, Benton faced the flames, strong winds lifting him to his feet and embers burning his skin, screaming for Trooper.
“Soldier is smart in a way that most dogs aren’t. He’s incredibly smart. He opens doors with his paws. He can unlock doors. He’s an amazing dog,” Benton said a week later. that his life turned upside down.
“It had to be the scariest thing a dog could experience. It was so hard to breathe or see anything. Imagine being in a tornado as it sucks the air out of your lungs and lifts you off the ground. But then imagine fire and ash, and breathe the heat. It was the scariest and strongest thing I ever experienced.”
After walking away from Hell, Benton almost immediately regretted not staying behind.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about how scared the dogs must be. I felt like a horrible person, I couldn’t get them all. They expected him to protect them,” Benton said.
“I was literally blacking out and burning. I couldn’t see or breathe. I would have gone back to get Trooper, even if it meant staying behind, but my friends wouldn’t leave, so it crossed my mind that everyone would die if I wasn’t going back to that motorhome.
A friend of Benton’s kicked several people off the property, but a roommate of Benton’s stayed behind.
“He refused to leave,” Benton told the Sacramento Bee. “He said he was going to stay. He’d been through this before and he was going to stay and fight the fire or whatever. He was very stubborn.”
As they fled in the RV, they stopped to rescue a neighbor whose RV caught fire — the man’s dog and cat trapped behind a door that was too hot to open.
“It was heartbreaking. He lost them both. We had flames surrounding us as we drove down the road. I can’t believe we didn’t burn ourselves,” Benton recalled.
Two days later, on July 31, friends alerted Benton that a burned, 3-month-old puppy had turned up at the Rescue Ranch, a nonprofit animal rescue facility in Yreka. Until Thursday, the organization had taken in 160 dogs affected by the fire.
A photojournalist had found patches Saturday while surveying the damage in the Benton neighborhood and posted a video (of a black and white puppy emerging from the rubble) on Twitter.
Natalie Golay, director of communications for Rescue Ranch, said Benton and Patches’ story was a bright spot amid endless devastation.
“It was very, very emotional to see his reunion. He’s lost everything. But finding Patches, he told us, gave him some hope that his brothers had survived too.
Benton went back to his house a couple of times to look for his classmates. On one trip, Benton discovered Tanner’s ashes: the puppy had retreated to a bedroom. He also found human remains, which he suspected were his roommate’s.
As of Friday, Siskiyou County authorities had not released the names of any of the four people so far known to have died in the fire.
Benton said he can’t shake the feeling that Trooper and Brutus might be okay.
“I went back with one of my neighbors when we heard that people were looting to help him load his safes. He had to bury his cat, so while I was doing that, I went up the mountain in front of our house to see him better,” he said.
“The helicopters were dropping water and the trees were still smoking. I watched 30-40 minutes and got a nice shout out for Trooper. I don’t think he’s stuck around, but if he heard me, he’ll know dad’s trying to find him.
“I have been checking the places where animals are taken and I have put the word out. If I don’t hear anything soon, I might jump into my raft and float down the river. I have to find Trooper. He is my best friend. We don’t know how Patches did it and we only found Tanner. I have a feeling Trooper and Brutus came out too.”
Benton was determined to focus on the blessings he had received amid the devastation.
“All I have of all my worldly possessions is my French bulldog and patches. I couldn’t be happier for those two blessings,” she said.
“I could only be more grateful if I could get Trooper and Brutus back. Nothing would bring me more joy than to know that they are okay and that they know I’m back.”
A GoFundMe has been set up for Benton a https://tinyurl.com/2pfnpmtv. As of Friday afternoon, $450 had been raised.
The funds will be used to buy a used four-wheel drive vehicle (his was lost in the fire) and backpacking gear to enable him to search for his “missing canine family”. His French bulldog also needs medical attention, and Benton could use some clothes and necessities.
Anyone with information about Trooper or Brutus can call the Rescue Ranch at 530-842-0829. The ranch is open from noon to 4 p.m., Thursday through Tuesday, to accept donations or for evacuees to look for lost pets. To donate to the facility, see rrdog.org/wildfire
Contact Mail Tribune reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or bpollock@rosebudmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.
