Through the combination of our training, our shared expertise, our in-field experience, we have become a much stronger team rescue by rescue. Just found this puppy, it's shaken, I don't know where the owners are, I'm going to set up its cage, and keep going back for more. -Let's go. -We're coming. But, rescuing isn't always easy. Finding animals can be extremely hard at times.

Karissa: I am truly honored to be a part of this upcoming National Geographic series, “Animal Storm Squad”. Almost three years ago, my life changed. A powerful EF-5 tornado ripped through Moore, Oklahoma. Which, tragically killed twenty people. That day, my friend Dave Holder, he's a Meteorologist, and he called me about forty-five minutes after the tornado went in. And he had found a litter of kittens that had been displaced, the mom had, sadly, been killed by some flying debris, I believe. So, he called me, asking for some advice on what to do. So, I'm telling him to, you know, “get them really warm, if you can put them against your skin, please do so, you need to get them to a vet immediately.” Unfortunately, the next day, three of those kittens, passed away. Dave, however, thankfully, adopted one of the kittens. And then Shanda, another friend of mine, she adopted the other kitten. That day the tornado inspired me to go down a new path. I decided that I wanted to help reunite families with their pets and that has been my mission ever since. Within a few weeks of that mega storm, I had registered my not-for-profit organization: Never Stop Saving.

Chasing tornados introduced me to many great meteorologists, other storm chasers, and just a really great community of people, where we could share stories, kind of be nerds together, and really just share our love and crazy obsession for extreme weather and the beauty of the natural world. Around that same time, a film production company, called BCII had heard about us, and they asked if they could come out and film a short clip of us. So I said: “Sure, why not? We're already going to be out there.” So they came out, and they started filming, and it was actually perfect timing, because they were able to film our team as we bonded, actually, here is a clip of our team members in action as-- on our first deployment as “Animal Storm Squad”.

Narrator: They arrived thirty miles outside of the fire's perimeter. Could be if the animals that are still alive, they may have gone to the safer ground. We did hear yesterday some firefighters and other people, there were some touch-and-go moments where they almost got trapped.

Erik: They have no cell data up there right now. So we need to make sure we know where that fire's at. Winds in a fire drive the fire, it's like the engine. The winds will fan the flames, so as the wind blows higher, your fire's moving faster, making it more and more dangerous. We're here in Wenatchee right now, we know there's a fire break up here, so we want to try to get into the town of Pateros or the town of Brewster.

Narrator: Disasters are by definition unique. Survival and success come down to being prepared.

Karissa: Through the combination of our training, our shared expertise, our in-field experience, we have become a much stronger team rescue-by-rescue. For each mission that we're on, we spend anywhere from two to three days prepping to a couple weeks. Depending on whether we will face a fire, a flood, a tornado, we have some specific gear that we bring for each deployment. Fires, fires scare me the most. Winds can pick up at any time, reigniting smaller, smaller fires. The embers can travel really far, and quickly. And even when a fire has gone through an area, and you think that it's safe, but the fire actually can still burn in the root systems of these trees for a couple days. and the smallest amount of wind can actually knock over those trees. Fires can affect animals in many different ways, from first to third degree burns, they can have smoke inhalation, upper respiratory infections, and most of the time, their whiskers have been singed off. So this is taking away their very important senses, they can no longer sense the wind changes, or movements around them, and this leaves them very vulnerable. Here is an example actually, of just how bad a wildfire can affect a cat.

“There's a cat, there's a cat! Hey baby.” “Push him towards me.” “Hi! Hi sweetie.” “She's got her, she's got her.” “Hi.” “Can you open this door for me, sir? Can you open that door?” “There's a cat. Where's the cat carrier?” “It's okay, it's okay.” “It's closed. Alright, it needs medical attention now. There is no waiting, we are going back to veterinary clinic, please get in touch.” “Leigh Ann to Dustin. Leigh Ann to Dustin.”

Karissa: We are heading to the clinic right now, we are on the go. -We're going? -Yeah, they're on the go.

Narrator: With no time to lose, Karissa and Leigh Ann transport the kitty to the clinic. Severely burned cats can go into shock without immediate medical attention. You got him? We have a critical cat. Do you have the information of where you got it? Yes, on another tag in the car.

Vet: Hi, baby. It's very scared. She literally smelt like she was dying when I got her. Yeah, she's bad. It's okay. Shh.

Dr. Dina Allism: Her lungs sound pretty good. I'm thinking she basically has second and third degree burns, she's severely dehydrated, probably fifteen to twenty five percent dehydrated, and definitely there's some muscle loss from malnutrition. I think she's less than five. I would go 4.76. I love that you have a temperature, look at that! That's almost normal!

Dr. Dina Allism: You're so brave.

It's always a great relief when they say you found in time, that's for sure. Because you know, they've got a good chance. Some things about tornados. This is a tornado disaster. This house here, had been completely picked up off of its foundation, turned around, and now is facing backwards. Animals often suffer blunt force trauma from flying debris in tornados. They can have broken bones, lacerations, contusions, internal bleeding, head trauma, swelling. And it may not be easy for us to identify these right away. Animals can be very unlike themselves, they've just lost their house, they don't know where their owners are, everything around them is chaotic, a tornado had just gone through, which can sound like a freight train. Then sometimes you have storms coming through again, so it's really no wonder that these dogs and these cats are just not like themselves. Prepping for floods includes, good cleaning supplies. And good cleaning supplies is a must, because when the flood water rises, it often mixes, if not always mixes with sewage. And this sewage can be extremely toxic, not only for the animals, but for ourselves. So after every rescue, we have to have proper cleaning supplies that we can wipe down the animals, but to clean all of our gear, our boots, our gloves, our jackets, whatever has touched the flood water, we need to wash. After a flood, even the smallest amount of new rain can be very dangerous, not only for us, but for animals that are still displaced. Because, the grounds have already been saturated to the max with the flood water, that any amount of the new rain, it's not going to go anywhere but up. This house had water up to the ceiling, like up to the roof, it had subsided, and in this next clip I'm going to show you, you will see how brave a cat was.

There's a lot of thunder in the background. And we've got probably ten minutes, maybe, before we have a lot of lightning, an inch and a half of rain per hour. We probably do need to get to higher ground. It's gonna flood again. -Shh! It's in here. Oh, hey little guy! This cat hasn't had clean water in days. It's most likely been drinking some of this contaminated flood water. So our main priority is to get to a vet as fast as possible. Oh it's underneath the porch, guys! It's underneath the bench! Hey!

Dustin: I don't want her to go into that bush.

Karissa: I don't either. Kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.

Dustin: Oh, she's in the water. No she's not. It's in the bush. Coming with my gloves. Where in the bush is she? She's right here. Oh! She's in the water. -Where'd she go? -She's under the porch. Here's the good thing, okay. So, the porch is covered.

Leigh Ann: Yes. We can leave food here and a cat trap. I'm gonna go back and get the trap. Because we need to give her opportunity to get out of this porch now, because of the rain coming.

Dustin: Exactly. Exactly. Guys, we got about five minutes. Oh, sorry. Alright, here you go, -No, she'll be good on the porch. She has food. And then we can get ourselves out of danger with raising water. Alright, lightening guys, let's do this now. Get back in the cars. Okay! The authorities requested everyone leaves until the rain subsides. So right now, we're gonna get out of here, and go search in higher ground.

Training is not only a necessity for NSS, but it's also a lot of fun. If you are not a good swimmer, then our swift water rescue course that we take can make you feel uncomfortable. If say for instance, me, I don't even like getting in elevators. I'm claustrophobic, so confined space is a bit of an issue for me. If you're afraid of heights, this is not going to be a good thing, because we do repelling, ropes and rigging, and we climb down a lot of high cliffs. We are very hard on ourselves, not just emotionally, but physically, we work very long days. So, I just want you guys to know that if your town, or wherever you guys are, if something happens, I'm going to try to do my best to get to you area, to save your pets.