Early in the morning of Oct. 9, Dani Stockham rousted her sleeping daughters awake.

"Get up, get dressed. We got to go. There's a fire and it's close," Stockham told the two teenage girls.

A wall of flame — part of the inferno that would soon be known as the Tubbs Fire — the was quickly advancing on their house on Skyfarm Drive in Santa Rosa. Stockham and the girls scrambled to grab the pets and precious personal items before it was too late.

Fifteen-year-old Lea scooped up Thomas, her parents' fluffy Christmas gift to her 12 years ago. Lea was Thomas' favorite human, but now fear overrode their bond. The agitated cat wriggled in her arms.

"He just like, started clawing at me and slipped out of my arms," Lea told CBS 5.

The frightened feline bolted off into the dark. There was no time to chase after him.

As Lea sobbed in the car, her mother tried to console her. Dani reminded her that cats are good at surviving even under the most adverse conditions.

But when the family returned three days later, they found a pile of ash and rubble. On the remains of the porch lay the charred body of a cat. Its fur was gray and white.

Lea was crushed. A small, sad funeral was held for Thomas. The family said their goodbyes to the unfortunate animal.

On Sunday, six weeks after the fire, Dani's husband, Boyd, received an email from the Avid microchip company. Someone had found Thomas.

"Initially we thought it was some kind of cruel scam," Dani told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. But through Avid, she and Boyd were able to track down the person who found the cat — San Francisco park ranger Shannon Jay.

According to the Press Democrat, Jay spends his free time pursing and trapping runaway and feral cats. He told the Stockhams that at 2 a.m. Friday he caught a thin, slightly injured gray and white cat on Split Rail Court, not far from their burned home on Skyfarm Drive.

The microchip identified the cat as Thomas.

The anxious family drove to meet Shannon and pick up their precious runaway.

"It was honestly like the best day I had since the fire. It was the greatest day ever," said Lea.

The Stockhams don't know whose cat they buried.

As for Thomas, he's back to his old routine — long naps and plenty of food to nibble on. And at night, sleeping next to Lea.