Bend woman, community go the extra miles for fire victims

California fire relief continues to flow south from Central Oregonians — and not just for the people. One Bend woman made it her duty to come to the rescue of the other survivors of the deadly, destructive Camp Fire — the animals. But she insists it’s been a community effort and far from just her own.

“It’s just desolate.” Those a re the words Vicki Kipp used Saturday to describe the scene in tje fire-stricken area.

A week and a half ago, Kipp went on Facebook to tell people she would be traveling down to help the animals affected by the Camp Fire. In just a few days, Kipp collected 3,000 pounds of feed from people across the Central Oregon community.

On Thanksgiving Day, Kipp and her friend, Gary Bridwell, who’s also from Bend, packed their trucks full and headed south to deliver the feed.

“If I was in this situation, I would want someone to go get my dog and my cats and take care of them until I could,” Kipp said. “These animals depend on us. They depend on the people.”

Kipp says all the animals she’s helping right now are in a hospital that’s been turned into an animal shelter. Since the shelter wouldn’t allow pictures to be taken, Kipp related the heartbreaking sights to NewsChannel 21.

The animals are survivors — but some carry lasting scars.

“There’s pigs with burned feet and goats with burned eyeballs,” Kipp said.

Kipp said she knows what she’s doing will go a long way, but she wanted to make one thing clear: This isn’t about her.

It’s about the Central Oregon community coming together to help those in need.