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“As soon as he struck fire
and the sparks rose up from the flint, the door flew open, and the dog who
had eyes as big as a couple of tea-cups stood before him, and said,—
'What are my lord’s commands?' ”
Hans Christian Andersen
(1805-1875)
"The
Tinder Box"
(Australia, Canada, USA) — It's
no wonder that firefighters choose dogs as their mascots. Dogs can sniff
smoke better than any battery-operated gizmo, and they'll stop at nothing
to rescue others,  often
running into burning structures to save lives even at the cost of their
own.
(And to top it off, dogs seem to have a natural talent for using fire
hydrants.)
In the past few weeks, the pooches have again proven their amazing heroics and
uncommon valor under fire. Today we bring you four
incredible stories: two life-savers, one survivor and one ultimate sacrifice
that I guarantee you'll never forget.
1.
When Fire Alarms
Fail,
You Can Count on the Dog
...sort of
SPOTSWOOD, Victoria (Australia) — Electronic
smoke
detectors only work when a person can hear them, which wasn't the case
last week with 36-year-old Sharon Evans. But lucky for her, she had
a back-up device that resorted to pouncing and face-scratching when it
became apparent that noise wouldn't work. Ms. Evans is deaf in one ear
and was sleeping on the other when flames engulfed her Spotswood home at
about 11:45pm,
June 25th. Sensing that the fire alarms  weren't enough to
avert disaster, the
woman's four-year-old Maltese terrier "Molly" bounded into
action. (Photo: Mark Smith / Herald Sun)
First barking, then charging into the bedroom and finally scratching at
the woman's face, the white fluff ball managed to rouse Ms. Evans just
before flames consumed the entire house, the Herald
Sun reports.
"She woke me; she was scratching my face and barking," says Ms.
Evans. "She's the bravest dog—she deserves a medal." All
clever heroics aside, however, Molly the wonder dog promptly dove under
the bed and refused to come out after waking Ms. Evans. It was now
up to the woman to save her brave canine rescuer. "I'd just die
without her," she explains. "If she was going to go, I'd
go, too." Ultimately, Ms. Evans was able to coax tiny Molly out of
her hiding place by rattling the car keys (wouldn't you know it; even in
the midst of a raging inferno they all just want to go for a ride). The
blaze, later blamed on a hot water heater, charred the entire house along
with all possessions and took the Metropolitan Fire Brigade an hour to
extinguish. But the two occupants managed to escape unharmed. "It
sounds stupid but she and I have this thing together," says Ms.
Evans. "She's like my baby. I just love animals."
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"Fresh Flowers? I swear it wasn't me! I
wasn't anywhere near the garden!" Heroic mutt
"Sumo" has become the first dog ever to receive the
Honolulu Fire Department's coveted Medal of Valor. (Photo: FL
Morris / Star-Bulletin) |
2. Firefighter of
the Year is a Dog
HONOLULU, Hawaii (USA) — I'm not so
sure if dogs care a whole lot for medals. Medals don't bounce as well
as tennis balls, and although they are crunchy, medals don't taste as good
as a nice pair of shoes. But sometimes it's the humans' best way of
saying "thanks." Late last month, the Honolulu
Fire Department broke tradition and presented its 2002 Medal of Valor
to "Sumo" the mutt. The award has typically been reserved
for courageous (human) civilians, but Sumo's life-saving efforts earlier
this year prompted Deputy Fire Chief John Clark to re-evaluate the program
and henceforth extend it's honors to our heroic animal friends as well. The
fire occurred on Feb. 16 at about 1:00am at the home of Abel and Lurline
Degagne in Kaneohe. "Spontaneous combustion of paper towels
saturated with linseed oil" caused flames to erupt and spread rapidly
throughout the 2-story structure, according to investigators. Sumo, a
7-year-old Lab-mix, began barking furiously and was joined by 2-year-old
"Millie", another Lab. The commotion awoke Lurline Degagne,
54, who was the first to see the glow of fire. Less than five
minutes later, reports the Star-Bulletin, the entire house was
engulfed in flames. Lurline and her husband
Abel, 65, escaped in a panic but closed the door behind them, inadvertently
trapping the two dogs inside.
This is what 45-218 Kokokahi Place looked like the next morning.
(Photo:
Dean Sensui / Star-Bulletin) |
Lurline quickly realized that their two "children" (as she
calls the dogs) were missing. She immediately went back to the house
and managed to lead them to safety. The firefighters soon arrived
and spent the next seven hours extinguishing the blaze which ended up
gutting the $250,000 home.
Meanwhile, Sumo, who was afraid of the commotion (or perhaps throwing a
tantrum at having been left inside the burning house—"thanks a
lot, Ma!"), ran off into the surrounding hills and
disappeared. Firefighters and neighbors helped search for the
missing pooch for hours before he finally returned about 14 hours later to
a hero's reception.
At the Aikahi Fire Station in Kailua on June 23, Sumo was awarded the
Medal of Valor, and along with it came a whole mess of doggy treats (ah,
now there's something all dogs can appreciate!).
Proceed to
Part 3: Firefighters Bring Dog Back to Life;
Part 4: The One You'll Never Forget
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