Special cat gets a special escort out of California wildfires

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- We're back with one of the more unusual evacuation stories to come out of the Southern California wildfires.

It involves a sports agent, an NBA player with roots here in the Valley and his cat.

Brook Lopez plays for the Lakers and lives in Bel Air, right in the path of the Skirball Fire. As the team left for a road trip last Wednesday, Lopez did not have anyone to take in his 10-year-old rescue cat -- Poupin.

Lopez tried checking Poupin into a swanky cat spa in LA, but the cat's shot records were not up-to-date.

All out of options, Lopez gave the cat to his agent, the agent called an Uber and Poupin was driven 215 miles to Lopez's home in Fresno. Lopez's mom told us she's taking care of the cat until she drives him back down to Lopez just before Christmas.

By the way, in case you are wondering about the name, Poupin is French for "chubby".