DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. – Firefighters pay credit to two dogs for saving the life of a 10-year-old boy in the Dinwiddie County trailer fire.
“Those two dogs are heroes,” said Dinwiddie Fire Chief Dennis Hale.
Hale says the call to Dinwiddie County came as a fully lit house fire with a child in it.
Firefighters from Dinwiddie County did not think about the fire as they made their way to the trailer.
“The whole time you respond, you know the comments are, ‘There’s a kid in the residence,’” said Hale.
Upon arrival, firefighters reported seeing flames coming from the front of the trailer.
But the kid who was in the house escaped thanks to two brindle pit bulls.
The boy ran across the street to his neighbor’s house and told Ray Dawson he was sleeping.
“He was dirty as he could be, he just banged his nose, his whole face, his hands,” Dawson said. “He said his dogs got in there and started jumping on him and waking him up.”
“He was asleep and his two dogs came into his room and started jumping up and down and scratching his chest and that woke him up,” Hale added.
Faced with smoke and flames, the boy escaped, threw his window.
He stayed calm and knew clearly that the fire would have been between him and his normal front door, he knew he had to go out some other way. He did exactly what he should have done, ”Hale said.
The two pit bulls did not make it.
“They all loved those dogs,” Dawson said. “They saved the boy, saved him.”
“They’re both heroes, actually,” Hale added.
The 10-year-old was taken to the VCU Medical Center for smoke inhalation. He is expected to recover.
The Red Cross has been called and is helping the family with temporary accommodation.