A young boy was found dead with his dog in his lap after trying to escape Oregon wildfire

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by Heavy-Addiction
image for A young boy was found dead with his dog in his lap after trying to escape Oregon wildfire

(CNN) As wildfires ravage the West Coast, one boy and his dog died huddled together in a car, where they sought safety from the flames.

Wyatt Tofte, 13, died Tuesday in the wildfires in Marion County, Oregon, along with his 71-year-old grandmother, Peggy Mosso, a family spokesperson told CNN.

Mosso was found dead in a car that went up in flames, as her daughter and Wyatt Tofte's mother, Angela, stood nearby attempting to save her. Angela survived but is in critical condition. Her husband and Tofte's father, Chris, also survived.

"Our family is devastated by the loss of our kind-hearted 13-year-old Wyatt and his beloved grandmother Peggy in the Santiam Fire in the early morning of September 8th," a family statement said.

"After a long search for Wyatt, he was found in a car with his dog on his lap, but unfortunately, was not able to escape the fire. Angie is in critical condition with full-body burns," the statement said. "We want to thank all emergency personnel and people who helped in the search. Our family appreciates the love and support we have received from everyone during this terrible tragedy."

WanderWut on September 12nd, 2020 at 03:44 UTC »

Reading another article with more details you would genuinely think this was something out of a horror movie, it’s as bad as it can get.

The Dad left the house to get a trailer to help move things.

The fire wasn’t as bad, so the family went to sleep.

The fire suddenly went much faster than expected and the family woke up to the house on fire.

It’s the grandma, mom and 13 year old son in the house, along with a few pets and a Dad. They manage to get everything outside but the car wouldn’t start because it was on fire.

She did the only thing left to do, she tells her son to book it at as fast as he could with his dog and off they ran.

The mom tried to help the grandmother (her mom) but due to a broken leg from a recent fall there was nothing the mom could do:

”Ultimately, Angela knew if she wanted to survive, she had no choice. She had to leave her mom behind. Peggy Mosso died in the fire.”

(HOLYYYYY FUCKKK)

(So there goes the mom on her own trying to escape, the grandma is left behind to burn alive and her son is on his own trying to escape on foot with his dog, I can’t imagine how horrified the kid was).

The mom manages to escape by running/walking 3 miles on burning asphalt.

The son is found burned alive in a car with his dog and grandmother* on the side of the families property (so it looks like the kid turned back around and ran back to the house after trying to escape, so fucking sad).

The Dad, being back with the trailer now, tried to drive back to the house with the fire still raging and saw a badly burned woman walking on the road, he didn’t even recognize her and told her he was looking for his wife, kid and mother-in-law, the woman told him “I am your wife.”

WHAT.THE.FUCK.

Also, I can only imagine how utterly horrifying the sons last few hours were. Imagine going to sleep and waking up to your house on fire, you walk outside and see literally everything around you in flames, your parents car won’t start and so your mom ends up having to tell you to go running BY YOURSELF to try to save yourself, it’s a literal burning hell around you as you run farther in, debris and trees are falling everywhere, it’s hard to breathe, everything is molten hot and burning, you can’t make it out and decide to run back home where his grandmother was left... that’s where he spent his last moments. I mean, fuck.

Ohhg on September 12nd, 2020 at 00:05 UTC »

A wife he couldn’t recognize because she had been burned badly, a son he couldn’t find, and the grandmother left behind because she was too medically weak. I would be absolutely crushed if I was in his shoes.

frodosdream on September 11st, 2020 at 22:46 UTC »

What a horrific story. The poor family; the image of the child dead in the car with the dog in his lap to the end is heartbreaking. Then there was this:

He didn't recognize her at first, he told the newspaper, and he told her he was searching for his wife and son.

"I am your wife," Angela replied, according to the Statesman Journal.