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#Post#: 274830--------------------------------------------------
Dog Saves Woman's Life
By: LabPartner Date: September 21, 2024, 2:28 pm
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HTML https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2024/09/20/california-house-fire-dog-hero/
David Hoffman was running errands when he got a frantic phone
call that his home was on fire. His disabled wife Melissa
Hoffman and their pets were trapped inside.
The call was from his daughter-in-law, Ingrid Hoffman, who said
she tried to get Melissa out of her bedroom, but the heat and
smoke were so intense she had to flee. David, 69, rushed to his
home in Citrus Heights, Calif., that morning, Aug. 15, and saw
the duplex in flames. He started to run inside to Melissa.
“It was so smoky and hot, it blew me back,” said David,
explaining that Melissa, 64, had a stroke earlier this year and
is unable to walk.
He didn’t know then that Melissa had reached for her wheelchair
and fell to the floor, and their dog, Maya, was lying on top of
her — which rescue workers said helped save her life.
“I broke open the back window and started spraying water inside
from our garden hose,” David said. “The whole time, I was
shouting at Melissa to keep talking to me, that we were going to
get her out.”
Fire crews quickly arrived and rushed to the back of the house,
searching in the dark smoke for Melissa.
“One of our rescue guys caught a glimpse of some fur on the
floor, and they found the dog on top of the woman,” said Capt.
Ryan McMahon of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. “They
grabbed the lady and the dog and got them out to rescuers at the
back window.”
Rescue workers thought Maya, an 8-year-old pit bull mix, was no
longer alive when she was pulled from the duplex.
“We all thought the dog didn’t make it,” said fire Capt. Josh
Leonard. “She wasn’t moving and didn’t appear to be breathing.”
Not only was the dog still alive, rescuers said that by lying on
Melissa’s chest and protecting her face, Maya was a hero.
“The dog was unconscious on her chest, protecting her airway,
and ended up taking the brunt of the heat,” Leonard said.
He added: “That dog absolutely saved her life and is a hero.”
Capt. Mark Nunez, spokesman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire
District, said the way the dog positioned herself on Melissa is
what saved her until firefighters could rescue her.
“Think of it as someone standing in front of you and blocking
the wind that is pushing in your direction,” Nunez said.
He added that he’s seen this behavior before with dogs.
“Calls that we have seen that involve dogs, there’s usually an
instinctual bond that the dog has with their owner, and they
feel the need to protect them,” Nunez said.
Melissa, who suffered third-degree burns on 60 percent of her
body, was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Leonard said it was
then that he and his crew were shocked to see Maya struggling to
breathe on the lawn.
“We quickly got a mask on the dog to give her some oxygen, and
we revived her,” Leonard said. “We knew we’d gotten Maya and the
lady out of the house just in the nick of time.”
David said his wife is now recovering from her wounds at a burn
center and will need numerous skin grafts and months of rehab
therapy. Melissa had a stroke in February and was making good
progress until the fire broke out, he said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and
firefighters were able to control the blaze before it destroyed
the other side of the duplex, he added, although the unit
sustained smoke damage.
“We lost everything, including one of our kittens, but I’m so
thankful that [Melissa] was saved, and Maya was saved,” David
said. “That dog has been a hero since we got her as a puppy.
She’s always been extremely devoted.”
He said he wasn’t surprised to learn that Maya stayed by his
wife’s side in an emergency.
“She’s extremely close to Maya and calls her ‘Sweet Pea,’” he
said. “Maya sleeps on the bed with her and is always by her
side.”
The Veterinary Specialty Hospital in Roseville, Calif., treated
Maya’s burns at no charge after they learned about his family’s
losses, said David, who is now living in an Airbnb rental.
Relatives started a GoFundMe account to help pay for the portion
of Melissa’s medical bills not covered by insurance, he said.
More than $9,000 has been donated so far.
Hoffman said that a local cat lover recently gave him a new
ragdoll kitten to replace the kitten that died in the fire.
“She’s become best friends with Maya, and I decided to name her
Miracle,” he said.
As for Maya, she is now home and recovering from burns on her
side and on her tongue from the hot smoke in the house, he said.
“She’d been licking Melissa while she laid on top of her,” he
said. “She took some of the burns that Melissa would have
taken.”
On Sept. 9, Hoffman returned to the vet with Maya for a reunion
with the firefighters who saved the dog’s life. KCRA Television
covered the event, which included lots of head pats and “good
girl” comments for Maya.
“Everyone wanted to thank Maya for her bravery, and we wanted to
thank them,” Hoffman said.
McMahon said it was rewarding for firefighters to see the dog
happily rushing around from one person to the next.
“A lot of times in the fire service, you don’t find out what
happens to people and animals afterward,” he said. “You don’t
always get to close that loop. It was really nice to close this
one.”
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