DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. — Firefighters are crediting two dogs with saving the life of a 10-year-old boy when a fire broke out at a trailer in Virginia Monday.
"Those two dogs are heroes," said Dinwiddie Fire Chief Dennis Hale.
Hale said the call came to Dinwiddie County dispatch Monday as a fully inflamed residential fire with a child inside.
Dinwiddie County firefighters weren't thinking about the fire as they heading towards the trailer — they were focused on the child.
"The whole time you're responding, you know the comments are, 'There's a child in the residence,'" Hale said.
Upon arrival, firefighters reported seeing flames coming from the front of the trailer.
But the child who was inside the home escaped, thanks to two brindle pit bulls.
The boy ran across the street to his neighbor's house, telling resident Ray Dawson that he had been asleep.
"He was just as smutty as he could be, just smut up his nose, all over his face, his hands," said Dawson. "He said his dogs came in there and started jumping on him and woke him up."
Hale said the boy had been asleep when the dogs came into his room.
Facing smoke and flames, the boy escaped through his window.
"He kept his cool and obviously he knew the fire would have been between him and his normal front door. He knew to go out another way. He did exactly what he should have done," Hale said.
The two pit bulls didn't make it out.
Dawson said the family loved the dogs and they're responsible for saving the boy.
"They both died heroes, basically," Hale said.
The 10-year-old was taken to VCU Medical Center for smoke inhalation. He is expected to recover.
The Red Cross was called and is assisting the family with a temporary place to stay.
This story was originally published by Wayne Covil at WTVR.
