Makiya Seminera
The Charlotte Observer
(TNS)
A Tennessee family can thank their “hero dog” for saving them from a fire that engulfed their home, officials say.
The family’s dog, Jack, realized “something wasn’t right” in the house, so he went over and licked his owner’s face to wake him up Tuesday morning, Nov. 7, according to a Chattanooga Fire Department Facebook post. When his owner woke up, he smelled smoke in the house and realized there was a raging fire, officials said.
The man and Jack then rushed to get the rest of their family members out of the house to escape the blazing flames, the fire department said.
An off-duty firefighter from Walker County saw the roaring fire and called 911, officials said, and emergency responders arrived to the scene around 8:20 a.m. The fire — which had flames reaching 15 feet above the house — was so strong that the smoke could be seen from the department’s fire hall, according to the post.
The family luckily got out of the house “in the nick of time,” the fire department said, and there were no injuries.
Because the home was so close to other houses, the fire department had to both put out the fire and avoid flames spreading into the neighborhood, officials said. Firefighters had to weather “multiple small explosions” from the house fire and remove tires from around the home so they wouldn’t catch fire, according to the post.
It took several hours for the fire department to completely extinguish the fire, officials said, but no other homes were damaged in the blaze. By the end, the family’s home was left charred and reduced to smoldering debris, photos from the Facebook post show.
The house fire is still under investigation, the fire department said.
Several Facebook users commended about the heroic canine for rescuing his family from the flames. Some sent their condolences for the family’s loss of their home, but one person commented there should be “all the praise to Jack for saving his family.”
“Pitties are amazing!!! The OG true protector. This is amazing!! Jack deserves a nice steak tonight for being a hero. That could’ve ended waaayy worse,” another user wrote.
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