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 on Monday.
"Those two dogs are heroes," said Dinwiddie Fire Chief Dennis Hale.
Hale says the call came to Dinwiddie County dispatch 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.
"The whole time you're responding, you know the comments are, 'there's a child in the residence,'" said Hale.
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 neighbors house, telling Ray Dawson, he was 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."
"He was asleep and his two dogs, came into his room and started jumping up and down and pawing at him at his chest and that woke him up," added Hale.
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," said Hale.
The two pit bulls didn't make it out.
"They all loved those dogs," said Dawson. "They saved the boy, saved him."
"They both died heroes basically," Hale added.
The 10-year-old was taken to VCU Medical Center for smoke inhalation. He is expected to recover.
The Red Cross was called and are assisting the family with a temporary place to stay.
This story was originally published by Wayne Covil at WTVR.
