A lightning-caused wildfire that threatened homes and a hospital on Sunday was no match for a flock of seven pink flamingos.

The lawn ornaments, on the hillside behind the Northern Nevada Medical Center, have become a symbol of hope for patients and staff and were threatened when a fire Sunday charred thousands of acres.

The pink birds still stand.

It was good news for Lita McCaw, director for case management for inpatient rehabilitation at the hospital.

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McCaw said the flock has become a source of inspiration for families since they appeared two years ago.

It was fall 2015 when two daughters of a patient in his 70s put the flamingos out on the hillside.

The man had a stroke and was depressed, McCaw said.

“His two amazing daughters bought all these flamingos and put them out so their father could see them from his hospital window,” McCaw said.

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She said they would move them around on the hillside, and it became a ritual for the man, staying on the sixth floor, to find them each day. Soon other employees and patients eagerly started looking for and talking about the flamingos.

“It’s a huge part of the hospital now,” said McCaw. She said the flamingos become a way to start a conversation with patient, many who are depressed after suffering a medical emergency.

The man ended up making an amazing recovery and left weeks after his stroke, but the flamingos stayed behind to inspire other patients.

Others have adopted the flamingos, and from time to time you can see them dressed for holidays.

It’s what Lisa Boote of Sparks did for after her own stay at the hospital for an appendectomy.

"I remember looking outside and seeing these pink flamingos and it just made me happy," she said.

When she got out of the hospital, she and her husband bought costumes for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day and dressed them up.

“I have to tell you I wanted to see with my own eyes,” McCaw said of seeing that the flamingos survived Sunday's fire.

“I truly can’t understand how they survived when fire was all the way around them,” she said.

She said hospital staff talked about dressing the flamingos up as firemen.

“The firemen truly saved the hospital,” she said. "They truly saved something that has become a symbol of hope."