DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. – Firefighters attribute to two dogs the life-saving of a 10-year-old boy during the Dinwiddie County trailer fire.
“These two dogs are heroes,” said Dennis Hale, Dinwiddie’s fire chief.
Hale says the call came to the Dinwiddie County dispatch as a fully ignited residential fire with a child inside.
Dinwiddie County firefighters did not think about the fire as they headed for the trailer.
“The whole time you respond, you know the comments are,‘ there’s a kid in the residence, ’” Hale said.
Upon arrival, firefighters reported seeing flames coming out of the front of the trailer.
But the boy who was inside the house escaped, thanks to two very intense pit bulls.
The boy ran down the street to his neighbors’ house and told Ray Dawson he was asleep.
“He was as crazy as he could be, he just covered his nose, all over his face, his hands,” Dawson said. “He said his dogs got in and started jumping in and woke him up.”
“He was asleep and his two dogs, they came into his room and they started jumping up and down and nailed him in the chest and that woke him up,” Hale added.
Faced with smoke and flames, the boy escaped by throwing out the window.
“He kept quiet and obviously knew the fire would have been between him and the normal front door, he knew how to get out otherwise. He did exactly what he should have done,” Hale said.
The two pit bulls did not distinguish it.
“Everyone loved these dogs,” Dawson said. “They saved the boy, they saved him.”
“The two basically died heroes,” Hale added.
The 10-year-old boy was taken to VCU Medical Center for smoke inhalation. He is expected to recover.
He was called to the Red Cross and helps the family with temporary accommodation.