Category: Heroes

Wisconsin Police Officer Runs into Burning House, Rescues Dog

As soon as he pulled up to a house on fire in Tilden, Wisc., Friday night, Chippewa Falls Police Officer Craig Mantzke wasted no time running into the burning home.

“Officer Craig Mantzke was first to arrive on scene and bravely entered the residence, which was fully engulfed in flames,” wrote the Chippewa Falls Police Department on its Facebook page yesterday. “Officer Mantzke forced his way inside, searching for people through the smoke and flames.”

A dashcam video shows Mantzke’s patrol car approaching the house and the officer running into the burning structure. Video from his body camera shows him searching the house as it fills with smoke.

After the video ends, Mantzke found an 8-year-old Shih Tzu named Maggie gated in the kitchen area and helped her escape.

“I think if we were in the same position we’d be absolutely elated if someone was able to save our pet or do what they could to save our pets,” Mantzke told WEAU. “Those are a big part of families.”

No other members of the Sullivan family, who have lived in the house for 12 years, were home at the time of the fire. The house was a total loss, but the family told WEAU they’re thankful no one, including Maggie, was hurt. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help the family recover.

A composite of the dash cam and body cam videos that was posted on the Chippewa Falls Police Department’s Facebook page yesterday has been viewed more than 77,000 times as of this morning.

Photo via Facebook

Guide Dog Who Saved Mom from Being Hit by Bus Is ASPCA Dog of the Year

When the driver of a mini-bus apparently didn’t see Audrey Stone, who is blind, and her guide dog, Figo (pronounced FEE-go), walking across a street in Brewster, N.Y., four months ago, the Golden Retriever jumped toward the vehicle to shield Stone.

“I don’t know if (the driver) thought (Stone) was going to move faster, but it looks like the dog tried to take most of the hit for her,” Paul Schwartz, who witnessed it all, told the Journal News June 9.

Both Figo and Stone were hit by the bus, but thanks to the guide dog’s heroic action, they both survived.

“There were 15 EMTs and people all around her, and the dog didn’t want to leave her side,” Schwartz said. “He was flopping over to her and she didn’t want him to get away from her, either. She kept screaming, ‘Where’s Figo?’ We kept telling her he was fine.”

Stone suffered several fractures, and Figo’s right front leg was severely cut.

After Stone was taken by ambulance to a hospital, Schwartz said Figo seemed kind of lost. Firefighters put Figo in their truck and took him to Middlebranch Veterinary, where he had surgery on his leg. A generous, unidentified benefactor paid all of Figo’s vet bills.

Once he recovered, Figo was returned to his original trainers at the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind to make sure the scary incident hadn’t affected his ability to continue working as a guide dog for Stone.

He passed all the tests with flying colors, including a walk down the street where the accident had occurred.

Today, after all those months apart, Stone was finally reunited with Figo — who, she’d told the Journal News, deserved a purple heart.

“Oh, my good boy. You’re home — finally!” Stone said as she petted him, the Associated Press reports.

“Basically, he would have died for me, doing what he did,” Stone said.

Although Figo won’t be receiving a purple heart, he is getting another prestigious honor for his heroic act. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) announced today it has named Figo its Dog of the Year.

“The 2015 Humane Awards honorees exemplify perseverance and incredible dedication to helping both animals and their owners – reminding us of the value animals bring to our lives, and the loving protection we owe them in return,” said ASPCA President and CEO Matthew Bershadker in a press release.

The Humane Awards Luncheon will be held Nov. 12 in New York City.

Photos via Twitter, Twitter

Off-Roading Heroes Rescue Pit Bull Trapped in Mine Shaft

NOV. 26, 2015 UPDATE: Happy news — After receiving an award on “The All-Star Dog Rescue Celebration” tonight for his heroic act, Michael Schoepf announced he is now Corona’s official dog dad.

After Michael Schoepf and some friends left a bonfire to go off-roading Friday night in Corona, Calif., they came across a mine shaft “in the middle of nowhere,” Schoepf told CBS Los Angeles.

While a bonfire in severely dry Southern California seems like a pretty bad idea, it was definitely a great idea for the off-roaders to stop when they came across the abandoned, 75-foot-deep shaft. Using a flashlight, they peered down into it. Imagine their surprise — looking back up at them was a 1-year-old Pit Bull.

“We felt instantly we can’t leave here, we have to get this dog out of here,” Schoepf told ABC7.

Schoepf and Galdden returned to the bonfire to gather up friends and rescue tools.

They all returned to the mine shaft to save the life of the dog they named Corona. With a harness, ropes and the help of his friends, Schoepf was lowered into the shaft.

“I put Corona here on my shoulders,” he told ABC7. “When I got there, she held on for dear life and we climbed back up.”

He said Corona is “wonderful, she’s an amazing, amazing dog. So obedient.”

It’s a mystery as to how she ended up in the mine shaft and how long she was in it. “There’s no way she could have made it all the way down there on her own,” Nickolas Galdden, one of the rescuers, told ABC7. “At some point she had to have fallen.”

Schoepf took Corona home and slept beside her. The next morning, he took her to Happy Tails Animal Hospital in Garden Grove to have her checked out by a veterinarian.

It could have been much worse, but Corona only suffered an eye injury, possibly when she fell down the shaft, as well as some scratches, but no broken bones, Dr. Keri Berka told ABC7. She performed the examination free of charge because Schoepf and his friends had done “the right thing” by saving Corona’s life.

Corona had a microchip, but the information was not current. (A good reminder to make sure your own dog’s microchip information is up to date.)

If her pet parents can’t be found, Schoepf will consider adopting her.

“She gets a second chance,” he told CBS Los Angeles. “She’s very well deserving of it.”

Photo via Twitter

Mystery Hero Saves Dog from Tennessee House Fire [Video]

UPDATE: The hero is no longer a mystery! It was dog lover Tim Tawater, a 20-year veteran of the Nashville Fire Department, who rescued Sampson, a young, 82-pound Bouvier.

“I’ve had dogs ever since I was born,” Tawater told WSMV this afternoon. “You got to figure that if there’s a dog in the house, the dog is definitely family.”

The homeowners, Brandon and April Gorley, got a call about the fire as they were starting a vacation in Gulf Shores. They immediately returned home. A relative who had been housesitting was out running an errand when the fire broke out.

The Gorleys met Tawater this afternoon. “He didn’t have to go into a house that was on fire,” Brandon told WSMV. “Deeply, deeply appreciate him being there.”

A man driving his gray Mustang down a White House, Tenn., street late Saturday afternoon stopped when he saw people gathered outside a house on fire.

Did he wait with them for help to arrive? Nope.

When he found out there were pets inside, the unidentified hero ran into the burning house and emerged a couple minutes later, carrying a large black dog. About 30 seconds later, the roof of the house collapsed.

Jimmy Nichols, a keyboardist for singers like Reba McIntyre and Faith Hill, captured the rescue on video.

“[He] says, ‘I do this for a living,’” Nichols told WSMV. “The dog was scared to death, but he saved this dog. It was incredible to see.”

The mystery man in the gray Mustang drove off without leaving his name.

“It was so weird — he just took off,” Nichols said.

The dog’s owners were out of town, so he was taken to a friend’s house. Unfortunately, the house was destroyed by the fire, which started in the attic. Three cats are still missing.

Nichols and others in the neighborhood — especially the homeowners, I assume — are hoping the hero comes forward so they can thank him.

“He’s got the love and respect of this whole community,” Nichols told WSMV.

Good Samaritans Save Elderly Man and Dog from SC Floodwaters

The so-called “1,000-year storm” — meaning a storm that has a 1-in-1,000 chance of occurring in one year — has devastated South Carolina, causing death and destruction.

Near Columbia, as much as 20 inches of rain fell over the weekend, CNN reports. That’s where 87-year-old George Osterhues of Ottawa, Canada, found himself Sunday during a road trip to Florida with Tila, his Yorkshire Terrier.

Osterhues had to take a detour off the flooded interstate and then became lost. He ended up on a country road that crosses a creek near a flood-prone lake. The creek was overflowing and flooding the road.

“Some people were turning around and I was trying to do the same thing, but I was already a little too far,” he told WSOCTV. For a couple of hours, he and Tila were trapped in their car in the raging floodwater.

Neither of them would likely have survived if Tom and Julie Hall, who live nearby, hadn’t been checking flooded roads for stranded people. Tom spotted Osterhues’ car.

“It was just about submerged,” he told the Charlotte Observer. Steadying himself with tree branches, he waded over to see if it was occupied.

“I saw some movement, and then he raised his hand and waved at me, and that kind of broke my heart because I knew at that point we had to go back and get him,” Tom told WSOCTV. Julie called 911 and ran back to the house to get rescue equipment and their teenage sons, Brice and Graham.

By this time the raging water was chest deep. Tom tried to reach the car using a canoe, but the current was too strong. Using trees and ropes, Tom was able to wade out to the car.

“The water was so strong he could hardly move and I couldn’t move either,” Osterhues told WSOCTV. He still managed to hold on to Tila.

Osterhaus, who was born in Germany, survived a Nazi death camp during World War II. When Tom reached his car, he told him that after all he’d been through, he was ready to die.

But Tom would have none of it. “No way was that man going to die out there,” he told the Charlotte Observer.

Osterhues was very calm, Tom told WSOCTV. “I begged him to leave the dog but he said the dog is going with us.”

Tom gave Osterhues a life jacket and pulled him and Tila out of a car window. Using ropes, it took an hour for the Hall family to tow Osterhues and Tila to higher ground.

Not only did the hero Hall family risk their lives saving Osterhues and Tila, but they offered to let them spend the night at their home. Julie’s physician father examined Osterhues to make sure he was okay (Tila was fine as well). The Halls even arranged for a rental car so Osterhues and Tila could continue their road trip.

“They already did too much for me,” Osterhues told WSOCTV. “They have a big family to take care of, and now me on top of that.”

How to Help Those Affected by the South Carolina Flooding

You can help people and pets displaced by the flooding by donating to the following non-profit organizations:

Photo via Twitter

Exit mobile version