A pit bull named Ace is being hailed as a hero after waking his deaf teenage owner during a house fire on Wednesday, according to the Indy Star.
Firefighters responded to the home around 1 p.m. Wednesday. Upon arrival, flames were coming out of the garage.
“I didn’t have these on, so I couldn’t hear at all. My dog licked my face and woke me up,” Nick said. “I was like, ‘Stop it! What? You want to be fed?’ I thought he wanted to be fed or go outside.”
But “Ace” kept it up until Nick got up, too.
“I woke up and the entire house was covered with smoke and we ran out in the backyard,” Nick said.
Nick covered his nose and mouth with a t-shirt and ran outside with Ace, as smoke and fire blew out of the garage. The boy was checked out by medics at the scene and released.
“It’s amazing, because if he wouldn’t have been there, he probably wouldn’t have even woke up,” said Lindsay Bernard, the boy’s mother.
No other family members were home at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported.
After a long search, firefighters also came out of the home with the family’s cat, “Pixie,” who was taken to a vet to be checked out, but appeared to be doing well.
“I’m glad she’s going to be okay,” Nick said.
Firefighters and the home’s owner believe the cause of the fire was likely accidental and started with an electrical issue in the garage. The house is a total loss.
Nick said he just got home from camp on Sunday and was excited because this was the first summer he was old enough to stay home alone. Luckily for him, he had Ace right by his side.
Agencies/Canadajournal