FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Pyro and Manni are the names of two kittens being called little fire fighters. The two barely survived after being trapped by a controlled burn in rural North Dakota.

The kittens were born in a burn pile, and a couple weeks later it was lit on fire. "I don't feel this was intentional, I think unfortunately they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Says their foster mom, Dawn Barth.
Thankfully, a photographer stopped to capture the controlled burn, and rescued them. "My first thought was, I am going to have to watch this cat pass away, that was my first thought." Says photographer, Carlos Pacheco.
He has been working on a project where he takes pictures of fires, and has never seen anything like it. Pacheco took pictures for about five minutes before he realized the two were inside. He says the sound of the fire was too loud to hear them meow. "I walked over to get some different angles, and I heard a cat meowing, and I kinda looked around and I didn't see anything. So, I took a few steps back over to where I was, and it turns out the cat sort of blended in with the trees."

Pyro was actually inside the fire, and Manni was nearby breathing in too much smoke. "It was too hot for me to even get close to it, which is why I was surprised that the cat was even in it. I had to shield myself with my jacket to even attempt to grab her," says Pacheco.

Pacheco used a stick to pull out Pyro, and scooped up Manni, putting them in a box, and taking them to cat's cradle to get emergency care.

"When I just saw her, I didn't think she would make it." says Barth. "His temperature didn't even register on the thermometer, and her's was low, her's was low too."

Pacheco says he's considering adopting Pyro and Manni, hoping wherever they go they will end up together.
Cats Cradle wants to remind people to spay and neuter their pets, saying that shelters are overflowing with animals.

http://www.valleynewslive.com/content/news/Photographer-rescues-two-kittens-from-controlled-burn-397858701.html

Professor of Photography Carlos Rene Pacheco will have work featured in the Art of Planetary Science exhibition in conjunction with the 2016 Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting in Pasadena, Calif. from Oct. 16-21. The event brings together scientific minds from the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Science (DPS) and the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC), and will be attended by hundreds of scientists and astronomers from all over the world. 

Featuring a blend of art and science, Pacheco will have photographs from an in-progress body of work titled Flatland on display. This series explores the vast, open landscape of the Upper Midwest. In Flatland, Pacheco trains his camera downward, revealing the textures and patterns of the region from various altitudes.

https://news.mnstate.edu/2016/10/carlos-rene-pachecos-work-featured-in-art-of-planetary-science-exhibition/

Photography professor Carlos Rene Pacheco will have work featured in the 2016 SPE Midwest Regional Multi-Caucus Exhibition at the McNamee Gallery at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri from Oct. 1 – Nov. 31, 2016. 

The photograph featured is from Pacheco’s latest body of work, Ash and Dust, exploring how fire is used as a means for erasure in the rural landscape of the Midwest. You can see more from this series during the month of October as part of the School of Visual Arts at Minnesota State University Moorhead faculty exhibition at the Roland Dille Center for Arts Gallery.

https://news.mnstate.edu/2016/10/carols-rene-pachecos-work-featured-in-2016-spe-midwest-regional-multi-caucus-exhibition/