A touching rescue in Durango.

[NJFFSA16]

One special moment for some firefighters...in a vast perimeter of fire.
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DURANGO, Colo. (AP) - Firefighters battling an unpredictable
wildfire in southwestern Colorado came to the rescue of a newborn
fawn they found under a burning log.
Idaho Hotshots found the fawn Friday, and handed the
soot-covered animal over to resident Christie Mogel.
"There were three (firefighters), and the fawn was just
nestling in between them," said Mogel, who cared for the fawn for
a few hours before giving it to the Nuepe Wildlife Rehabilitation
Center, where it will be raised and eventually returned to the
wild.
She believes the fawn's mother ran from the fire.
"The unfortunate thing with this fire is that it hit when deer
and elk are having their babies, a week or two before they are
capable of leaving," said Tony Gurzick, the Division of Wildlife's
area wildlife manager.
The fire had burned about 62,000 acres and destroyed 45 homes in
the southwestern corner of Colorado. On Sunday, emergency crews
ordered about 100 more homeowners to prepare to evacuate as the
fire kicked up. Some 900 homes already had been evacuated.
The fire, which began June 9, was about 25 percent contained.
Mogel said she has been trying to find the firefighters who
saved the fawn to thank them. "We want to tell them they saved a
really special part of Durango," she said.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press