On Monday, Dec. 9, a terrifying wildfire started in Malibu, California, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.
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Among these residents was legendary actor Dick Van Dyke, 98, and his wife, Arlene Silver, who reassured fans on Tuesday that they’d safely escaped the danger zone.
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However, one beloved family member ended up being left behind: Dick and Arlene’s beloved cat, Bobo.
Posting to his official Facebook page, Dick explained that they’d managed to leave with most of their pets, but Bobo had sadly escaped at the last moment.
“Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo, who escaped as we were leaving,” he wrote. “We’re praying he’ll be ok and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires.”
And Bobo was clearly playing on Dick’s mind, with the star sharing a video of the orange cat later that same day, adding in the caption: “Hoping Bobo is ok.”
Needless to say, Dick and Arlene were immediately inundated with support from followers, who shared their concern and well-wishes for the cat in such a scary situation — but thankfully, there ended up being a happy ending.
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Commenting on the original Facebook post late on Wednesday evening, Dick confirmed that Bobo was dutifully waiting for his owners at home when they returned.
Sharing a photo of smiling Arlene holding their pet alongside members of animal control, Dick told fans: “We found Bobo as soon as we arrived back home this morning.”
“There was so much interest in his disappearance that Animal Control was called in to assist. But, thankfully he was easy to find and not harmed,” he confirmed.
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Interestingly, Bobo isn’t the only celebrity feline to have had a lucky escape in a fire-related incident this year, with Cara Delevingne being left convinced that her beloved pets had died in a house fire in March.
Cara was in London when the fire broke out in her Los Angeles home, which reportedly took 94 firefighters more than two hours to extinguish.
The British model was left with little hope for the wellbeing of her two cats at the time, and — believing that they had died — shared a photo of them on Instagram as she wrote: “My heart is broken today. I cannot believe it. Life can change in the blink of an eye. So cherish what you have.”
Hours later, Cara revealed that both cats had been found and rescued by the firefighters, and that it had been confirmed that they were unharmed.
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There is still a red flag warning in place for the Franklin Fire in Malibu at the moment, but Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart seemed optimistic as he spoke to CNN on Wednesday.
“We’re far better off this morning than we were in the last 30-plus hours,” he said.
“Up until this point, it’s been a wind-driven fire,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone went on to add. “If the wind changes direction, we’re going to have the fire moving into new areas.”
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