The fire burned down her home and car.
A college student sped away from the devastating California wildfires on her bike while carrying her 70-pound dog in a duffel bag.
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Natasha Wallace, a student at Santa Rosa Junior College, took remarkable steps to save her 4-year-old dog, Bentley, from the inferno Sunday.
Like many escaping the fires, Wallace hopped in her car as the flames encroached but she and her dog ended up getting stuck in traffic.
“I sat in the same spot for two minutes trying to get out of there," she told Inside Edition. "I knew at that point it wasn't going to happen, so I ran all of the way to the house grabbed my bike, emptied out my bag and put my dog in it."
Wallace stuffed the 70-pound pit bull into her duffel bag, which she calls “the tough part,” and took off.
Remarkably, she was able to balance the heavy dog on her bike’s handle bars on her great escape. As smoke and flames closed in, somehow she pedaled away from danger.
“It was kind of scary because you’re trying to escape the fire and not get hit by a car,” she said.
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On Monday, she returned to her Santa Rosa neighborhood on the bike while wearing a surgical mask, and found her home burned to the ground and what was left of her car.
But Bentley is safe, and that's what Wallace cares about most.
“I got my dog. That’s all that matters,” she said.
Wallace has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money to replace what she lost in the blaze. For more information, click here.
