Idaho family searching for dogs after house fire

(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -Chuck Mendoza walked around in shoes that aren’t his, sporting an old jacket and jeans he bought today.

“He just throws his jacket at me, he pulls his shoes off and gives them to me, I was in shorts and a jacket for most of the morning,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza and his family sprinted out of their Sky Harbor Drive home Tuesday morning.

The home may look like a total loss, but his and his family’s spirits are not.

“This community reaches out to us and just shows us all the love they have, I mean it's crazy,” Mendoza said wiping away tears.

The family’s neighbors and friends have helped them in ways Mendoza can’t describe.

But there are two pieces of the family missing.

“I don't know what's going on in their minds but we just kind of want them back,” he said.

Mendoza says the family dogs, Happy and Oakley, ran out but has not been seen since Tuesday.

Thankfully, firefighters told him the dogs’ bodies were not found inside the charred home.

Mendoza knows the community, that’s helped him and his family in the toughest of times, will come through.

“You kind of feel not worthy of it in a way, but it's just a great community and I love being here,” he said.