Man's Best Friend Saves Owner From Burning Home
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A little, pint-sized Chihuahua wakes its owner from a deep sleep to find his home up in flames.
In the quiet overnight hour, just before 2 a.m., the normally dark street is lit up with bright-orange flames. A small, yellow house on N.W. 19th Avenue and 83rd Terrace is on fire.
Inside, the man, who did not want to be identified, said he was passed out asleep.
"During the time I was sleeping, my dog Sunshine, she started barking erratically and woke me up," he said.
When he opened his eyes, all he could see was smoke! He jumped up and immediately went for the bedroom door.
"I opened the door and heard a loud crash from the glass. And saw more smoke and closed it behind me," he said.
He was trapped inside with the only door leading out blocking the flames from getting to him. He only had one other option.
"I pushed the screen window out, lift the window up and I was out of the house," he said.
He told firefighters he called 911 himself.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue pulled up to the burning home at about 2 a.m. to find thick, black smoke billowing from the roof top.
The hero dog didn't come out.
"He told us that his dog was still inside there, we did a primary search and found the dog in the back room, the dog was alive and well," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Todd Garofalo.
But the little chihuahua was nowhere to be found.
"We had heavy fire and heavy smoke showing," said Miami-Dade Fire Battalion Chief Todd Garofalo. "The occupant was outside of the home saying that he was awoken by his dog that was barking."
Firefighters knocked the flames down pretty quickly and located the dog in a back room of the house, alive and well.
It was a close call for both the man and his pet, named Sunshine.
"Sunshine, she's an angel sent from God," he said.
Chief Garofalo said there were no smoke detectors inside the home. So, if it wasn't for sunshine, things could've turned out much different for the dog's owner.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
