Animal Rescue News: Barking Dog Saves Family From Fire, Cabbie Saves Canine From Frigid Water

Two animal rescue stories are making the news: one involves a dog saving a family; another is about a taxi driver being in the right place at the right time to save a pooch from a possible drowning. Get the tissue: you’ll need it after reading these two unrelated stories of man’s best friend and a cabbie hero.

The first story took place in Belfast, Ireland.

A teenage girl and her family are praising their dog after his heroic act. When a fire spread around the girl’s bed, Gizmo, the family dog, was the first to notice. In his haste to help the family, the dog began to bark loudly, which woke up everyone in the home. Thanks to Gizmo, all eight people escaped uninjured.

The fire originated from a cell phone cord. Around 6 a.m. The cable and the socket it was plugged into sparked, and fire quickly surrounded the girl’s bed, according to the Telegraph.

Around the time Gizmo noticed, the flames were spreading to his owner’s pillow, which caused the dog to bark as loud as he could.

Hero dog Gizmo saves family after child’s bed catches fire https://t.co/E66XxEFRpx @irish_news

— Brendan Hughes (@brendanhughes64) March 2, 2016

Kevin O’Neill, Commander of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Services Station, shared the story about the hair-raising incident.

“The only thing that alerted the family in the house was the fact that their dog awakened, barked and woke up the people in the house.”

Based on various statements, it appears that the family did have smoke alarms, but they were not functioning when the fire started, according to O’Neill.

“They evacuated out of the house, got into the car and waited on the fire service and never returned to the house. That is positive, and I would commend them for their actions in getting out and staying out and waiting on the fire and rescue service arriving.”

Aside from damage to the family’s home, the worst of the fire’s harm was a minor burn to the girl’s arm, which was treated at the scene. Without their family dog, the fire department stated that there is no doubt the next thing to catch fire after the pillow would have been the teenage girl’s hair. Imagine that?

The next story is about “man” saving his “best friend.”

In Arequipa, Chile, many people were horrified to see a homeless dog trying to endure the rough current of the Chili River. The scene only got worse when the dog returned into the violent waters of the river, according to Life With Dogs.

Fortunately, a taxi driver was able to save the dog’s life. The event occurred after a small dog fell from the overpass of a bridge into the river. Luckily, the animal was able to find safety in a pile of large boulders in the river’s center.

However, the animal was startled by the collection of people gathering around him. As a result, he jumped back into the terrible waters.

The river’s aggressive waters weakened the dog. The poor animal suffered a laceration to his paw. Moreover, a constant barrage of underwater rocks knocked the breath out of him. Consequently, he labored to breathe. Worse, the water’s cold temperature nearly froze the animal to death, which made it difficult for him to swim.

Nevertheless, things turned positive for the pooch. While the police were unable to save the animal, a taxi driver on a nearby bridge saw the dog floating in the river and took it upon himself to save the animal. Check out the Twitter post about an unrelated dog, this time about a community that rallied to save a homeless man’s dog.

Community Digs and Saves Homeless Man’s Dog – https://t.co/LQ2AeLThAs pic.twitter.com/1QUdKk8bt7

— Dr. John Lewis (@DrJohnLewis) November 8, 2015

The taxi driver leaped into the waters and rescued the dog. After the heroic act, police had to administer CPR. After the dog had been revived, he was transported to the local veterinarian, where he was treated for hypothermia and had his paw wound taken treated. Currently, the dog is safe and sound.