When Lily Ifield of Hertfordshire, England, looked out her bedroom window in the middle of the night earlier this month, she thought the thick smoke she saw was fog.
But when she went downstairs, she realized the smoke was coming from inside her house.
“I thought my home was going to explode. There was just this big billowing cloud of black smoke,” she Daily Express, describing a house fire earlier this month. “All I thought was, ‘Oh my God,’ and ran out. I couldn’t really see as there was smoke everywhere.”
Ifield, 73, and Sandy, her 10-year-old Pomeranian, managed to escape outside, but Sandy noticed somebody was missing.
It was Tina, a blind, 13-year-old Chihuahua who is Sandy’s best friend.
To Ifield’s horror, Sandy ran back into the burning house. “The fireman couldn’t believe Sandy went in to the smoke-filled house to look for the little one,” Ifield told the Daily Express. “He said when he came in, they were both sitting side by side in the kitchen, and Sandy was looking after her.”
Firefighters from the Stortford Fire and Rescue Service were able to save the two dogs.
“We got them out before there was a chance for them to be affected by smoke inhalation,” one of their rescuers, Pat Steadman, told the Daily Express. “The 13-year-old one was the smallest chihuahua you’ve ever seen. They were only going to come out together.”
Ifield’s parrot, Rio, also survived the blaze by flying out of the house. The fire was believed to be caused by an electrical issue in the kitchen. Ifield and her pets are temporarily staying in a hotel while repairs are made to their home.
“The firefighters did a brilliant job to make sure everyone was okay,” Ifield told the Hertfordshire Mercury. “They are so kind — I just want to thank them so much.”
Tina and her hero Sandy were already BFFs before the fire. But now? “They are even closer, and they just cuddle up to each other,” Ifield told the Daily Express.
Photo (of a random Pomeranian who isn’t Sandy): OpenRoadPR