'Without them these animals would perish': Firefighters rescue dogs from northern Alberta fires

Puppies rescued from the Fox Lake, Alta. wildfire evacuation zone. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)

More than a dozen dogs are looking for new homes after they were rescued from a wildfire zone in northern Alberta.

Many of them were rescued by firefighters from Fox Lake, which has been evacuated since May 3.

Second Chance Animal Rescue Society (SCARS) was contacted by RCMP about the animals on Tuesday.

"First responders, RCMP, fire and parks people, they are doing an amazing job pulling them out of there, as many as they can find but we know there’s some that are so terrified that they run," said Brenda Leonard of SCARS.

"Without them these animals would perish, no doubt about that, 100 per cent."

On Wednesday, volunteers drove three vehicles up to High Level to rescue the dogs.

"We didn’t know what to expect, it was very, very smokey driving up there. The wind had changed a little bit by the time, eight hours later we got up to High Level." Leonard said.

By the time they arrived, there was concern the highway would be closed, so the first vehicle was loaded up as quickly as possible.

"We were getting reports about the highway closing which is why we sent our first vehicle back right away to try to get some of them out of there in case we got stuck."

They arrived home with 16 stray dogs and puppies who are lucky to be alive.

"Super terrified, dehydrated, starving. All strays so we will be getting them back up to speed medically, they’ll be spayed and neutered and then put up for adoption."

The older dogs have gone to foster homes, but SCARS is looking for foster homes for the puppies.

"We provide all the care that we can but it’s not like home so we are always desperately short of foster homes," Leonard said.

SCARS is also in need of puppy and kitten food as it works to find homes for all of its animals.

They're holding an adoption and donation event at their facility on May 27.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson