LOS ANGELES>> Arianna Buturovic kept a wary eye on distant smoke from the rescue shelter she runs outside Los Angeles for dogs at risk of being euthanized. Within hours, nearby mountains were ablaze and fire began encircling her.

“I stuffed 15 dogs in a black Prius and two cats,” Buturovic said.

But she still had nine more dogs and a pig to evacuate, so flagged down some 18-year-olds with a truck who agreed to take them to a shelter. She couldn’t bring two ponies with her, but she left the corral open so they could escape if needed.

“That’s how we evacuated almost 30 animals,” she said. “It was crazy.”

Buturovic is one of many animal owners in Los Angeles who scrambled to get themselves and their beloved companions out of the way of fast-moving wildfires that killed 11 people and burned more than 12,000 homes and other structures this week. It has overwhelmed shelters, whose leaders have implored people, if they’re able, to find friends or family to foster their pets.

Wendy Winter and her husband decided Tuesday evening that they should buy some cat carriers so they could evacuate their Altadena home with their felines Purry Mason and Jerry. Less than two hours later, it was clear they needed to leave. The next morning, they learned the house they lived in for more than seven years was gone.

“There’s fear and loss and you just don’t even know,” she said. “You’re in shock.”

They’re hoping to find friends to foster their cats for two months while they figure out what they’re going to do next. Winter said she and her husband are disoriented, and they aren’t sure they can provide their cats an environment where they will feel safe and comfortable right now.

Some people took their pets to shelters because they couldn’t evacuate with them.

The Pasadena Humane Society took in 250 pets in the first day after the fires started. Los Angeles County Animal Care was looking after 97 pets — mostly cats and dogs but also pigs, a turtle, a bird, and a snake, said Christopher Valles, a department spokesperson.

Veterinarian Dr. Annie Harvilicz had been moving out of an old Animal Wellness Centers office in Marina del Rey, but inspired by her brother’s need to find a place for his pets, she turned the exam, X-ray and surgery rooms into an impromptu shelter. She quickly took in 41 dogs, cats and a bunny and soon found foster homes for all but two.

She told people on Facebook to contact her if they needed a place for their animals. She expected an onslaught of pets needing refuge but instead has been inundated with people wanting to volunteer.

“I’m very proud of the people of Los Angeles and how I really feel like they’ve stepped up to the plate when it comes to helping out each other,” she said..

Julia Bagan, who is part of a Facebook group called Southern California Equine Emergency Evacuation, found five horses locked in their stalls in Altadena one day after the fire.

By the time a neighbor called for help and firefighters used bolt cutters to free them, one of the horses was badly hurt, Bagan said.

She drove through the remnants of the fire Wednesday night to rescue them as damaged power lines sparked overhead. She described it as “the most crazy, dangerous” evacuation she’s had yet. Almost all the houses in the area had burned when she pulled up.

The injured horse, a 3-year-old black mare she decided to name after the movie Flicka, had leg burns. Her halter burned off, along with her tail and mane.