Yesterday, an adorable photo of a dog popped up on Reddit, and it captured the attention of the online community, like so many adorable dog photos have in the past. This one, however, had something extra: The dog was wrapped in the arms of a firefighter from the Priceville Volunteer Fire Department of Priceville, Alabama, who had just rescued the Pit Bull puppy from a house fire.
We got the story from the department, but first, take a full look at what’s making the rounds:
How did that sweet dog get into the safe hands of a firefighter? It started on Sunday, Jan. 5, according to one of the team members, when his crew was called out to a structure fire.
“Once we arrived, we made entry and found the house to be full of smoke and a very small fire,” he explained via email. “Once we had extinguished the fire, we finished the initial search and decided it was clear. Then we returned to the inside to do the secondary search.”
Though he remembered checking a bathroom and seeing nothing “besides lots of smoke,” once he was back outside, the homeowner told him there was a puppy in the bathroom — Sadie, his 11-week-old Pit Bull. He returned, and sure enough, there was a puppy on the floor. Sadie had blended in with the coloring of the bathroom so perfectly that the firefighter hadn’t noticed her the first time.
“When I first saw her, she was unconscious on the floor and looked like she was sleeping, so I picked her up and took her outside and handed her to a police officer,” he said.
That was just the start of this rescue.
“He took her over to his car and began giving her oxygen as well as starting CPR … and I went over and checked her pulse. At that point we noticed a labored breath, and then another, and then a few more. Then she started to pawing at the oxygen mask and kicking. She tried standing up half dazed and confused.”
“After that she was received lot of loving from all that were there. When we left the scene she was a happy albeit a little dirty puppy.”
The firefighter credits his team and the Priceville police with saving the puppy.
“As volunteers this is one of the main reason we do this, to help someone out.”
