Malibu Woman Goes into L.A. Fire Zones to Rescue Dozens of Animals: 'Finding Life Keeps Me Going' (Exclusive)

Malibu resident Jessica Davis is part of an army of volunteers determined to help the tens of thousands of animals displaced by the deadly, destructive blazes

Ever since the Palisades Fire tore through her Malibu community on Jan. 7, Jessica Davis’s cellphone has been ringing nonstop. Word went out that Davis — who runs the animal nonprofit Boomer's Buddies Rescue — was willing to navigate through the smoke and debris-covered roads that stretch through the charred canyons to search for peoples’ pets that might have survived the fires.

“That’s what makes it all worth it,” says Davis, 41, who has managed to retrieve nearly two dozen animals that would have probably not survived much longer without her intervention. “I’m running on adrenaline and no sleep," she adds, "but finding life is what keeps me going.”

Davis is part of a small army of volunteers who have swung into action since a series of massive wildfires began burning their way through parts of Los Angeles.

Amid the death and destruction brought on by the fires, thousands of residents found themselves dealing with another worry — the fate of the tens of thousands of pets and wildlife displaced by the blazes.

Related: As L.A. Burned, Local Shelter Took in 800 Displaced Animals, Even Putting 'a Pony in the Garage'

Some were forced to flee their homes so quickly that they didn’t have a chance to grab their animals. Others were never able to reach their properties before the authorities sealed off their neighborhood as the flames consumed everything in sight.

Davis, a real estate marketing specialist, was at work in Brentwood when the fire first broke out in the Palisades and quickly realized she needed to get home. “I could see the fire from the tenth floor of my building and knew it was blowing right towards Malibu,” she says.

After evacuating with her own five animals and moving into a motel for several days, Davis returned home and quickly went to work helping other pet owners.

For the first few days, she was driving up into remote areas with telephone poles still smoldering. “The canyons have been pretty difficult to navigate,” she says. “It looks like a war zone in those areas, literally like a bomb just went off. The landscape and community are forever changed. It’s heartbreaking.”

The work has been exhausting and the days long ago began blending together. “There have been so many sleepless nights,” she says. “I can’t sleep when people are texting me, asking to go look for their animals. It’s been hard.”

For more on pet rescues during the L.A. fires pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

The first few days, she was driving from one fire-ravaged house to the next, heartbroken by the realization that whatever animal lived there couldn’t have survived. “We weren’t allowed to dig through the rubble,” she says, “so we had to move on to the next address.”

Over the past week and a half, she and her small team have retrieved a range of critters — including koi fish and turtles — but the work is unending.

Related: Pets Lost in L.A. Fires Are Being Reunited with Their Desperate Owners, Thanks to This Charity

On a recent afternoon she made her way to a property that she was told had a coop full of chickens that needed to be retrieved. But by the time she arrived at the fire-scorched home, she found that half of them were burnt beyond recognition.

“I was able to get five of them, but they were still terrified,” she says. “I’ve never heard chickens scream like that. It was frightening.”

Davis loaded the birds into her car and drove back to her house where she promptly transferred them into a small coop before a foster group came and took the animals to their facility. “That way I was able to free up space in my coop just in case we get more chickens,” she says. “This really has been such a community effort.”  

Click here to learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.