A Detroit dog is being feted as a hero for running back into a burning house and leading a firefighting crew to a family’s toddler, who eventually saved him from the blazing inferno.
Janet Kelley, the mother of five and owner of Blue, recalled the harrowing events as she spoke to Fox 2 Detroit. “He went running back into the house because he knew Chantal, my youngest was in her playpen,” she said. “The firefighters had to chase him up and once they got up there, they realized that was going on.”
Amazingly, the young child was fine upon being rescued by firefighters and was quickly reunited with the rest of the family. The blaze, unfortunately, devastated their home and they are now without a place to live.
Kelley added that they had the option of going to a nearby shelter, but that option was shortly snubbed because they refused to take in family pets. Kelley said that she was unwilling to go somewhere without her hero furry companion.
“No dogs are allowed at a shelter and I refuse to leave Blue because God knows where my family would be without him,” she firmly declared. The family has therefore settled in a van for the time being. They had been staying at a hotel after being put up for a few nights by the Red Cross. They were given a few nights but are short of cash to remain at a hotel and unable to find more permanent housing on such short notice.
The fire is believed to have started after the children of the tenants of the duplex were playing with lighters.
All in all, to escape from a dangerous blaze with no loss of life is the ultimate miracle. It is not hard to imagine how this story could have ended differently, particularly for the toddler. Anyone who has experience a sudden inferno knows how quickly – and how deadly – the rushing onset of smoke and fumes can be.
The American Tribune tragically covered another recent home fire which did not end on a happy note. “Tragedy struck in Mississippi on Monday at 12:40 am when a father attempted to rescue his family and the family’s dogs from a raging house fire,” the Tribune wrote. “Though the brave father, Khanh Van Duong, was able to get his wife and their daughter out of the house, he died trying to rescue the dogs.”
A local news outlet covered the deadly story, writing:
A father was killed in a Mississippi house fire while attempting to rescue the family’s dogs, officials said.
Tragically, all 10 dogs – two adults and eight puppies – also died in the fire.
According to the Jones County Fire Council, the fire happened Monday around 12:40 a.m. at a home in Soso.
Three adults were in the house at the time of the fire – 56-year-old Khanh Van Duong, his wife and their daughter.
Investigation revealed that Duong had alerted his wife and daughter to the fire and told them to escape, which firefighters said saved their lives. The two were not injured.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the Detroit-based Kelley and her family.
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