Family wakes up to dog barking, sees house on fire

Amy Tang
By Amy Tang
February 18, 2019Trending
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Family wakes up to dog barking, sees house on fire
A small dog. (wernerdetjen/Pixabay)

At approx. 7 a.m., Joseph and Adeline Ciccarello were woken up by an unusual alarm — the bark of their dog, Emmie. Joseph looked outside and realized immediately that their house was on fire.

According to the Melrose fire department captain, Kevin Nobile, the Sunday (Feb. 17) incident could have gone horribly wrong for the Ciccarellos, if it were not for their Shih Tzu-Yorkie mix pooch.

“Thank God they had the dog because, I’ll tell you, it could have gone a totally different way,” Nobile told the Herald.

“We received multiple 911 calls as we were responding to the incident. The radiant heat had melted the vinyl fence around the property. Crews arrived to heavy fire in the rear of the building, which we believe started in the deck area. The guys did a tremendous job. They were very aggressive with their fire attack,” Nobile said, describing the incident.

During the chaos of the moment, Emmie fled from the bedroom, and the family was forced to evacuate without her. Searching for the little dog was not an easy task.

“The dog is the size of half a loaf of bread,” Paul Lepore, a veteran firefighter, said. “We spent probably two hours looking for the dog. As time kept going by we were thinking the worst.”

Finally, the firefighters found Emmie underneath a couch, alive. The little dog required some hospitalization, but she is also expected to pull through soon.

NTD Photo
A couch. (StockSnap/Pixabay)

“She’s a good little watchdog. It’s a miracle because the firefighters did not think the conditions were survivable,” Adeline Ciccarello said. “She just got groomed and shaved so she was hard to grab onto. She was hiding under her favorite spot, the couch, low to the ground. When they brought her out it was like we won the World Series all over again. Everyone erupted in applause.”

According to Lepore, the Ciccarellos were so happy to see their hero Emmie alive that Adeline had tears in her eyes.

Despite the blaze taking away much of the Ciccarellos’ property, the family was grateful that they didn’t lose what was most important to them.

“There’s definitely a silver lining to all this,” Adeline said. “We’re so grateful. It’s just a house and it can be rebuilt. But everyone got out safe. We just want to thank them (firefighters) for their hard work, for finding our dog and doing the best they could. They’re the greatest of guys.”

Another unlikely hero

Emmie is not the only furry hero, however. As a fire spread through a house in Marlborough, Massachusetts, firefighters rushed in to alert sleeping residents. However, a few tenants were already warned.

The fire broke out in the early hours of July 6, in a two-family home on Chestnut Street.

All the residents inside were sleeping, but everyone managed to evacuate to safety. For the family on the second floor, it was all thanks to an alert from an unexpected place.

“Second floor tenants said they woke up to the dog barking, looked up, and saw orange flames from the back window,” Assistant Chief Fred Flynn of the Marlborough Fire Department told CBS Boston.

That hero: a 3-year-old poodle named Divi, who is credited with getting the family out alive.

It’s easy to imagine how things could have gone very differently had they not been alerted when they were. The flames were spreading so fast that even the neighbors had to make an emergency evacuation.

“We were sleeping peacefully. [Firefighters] kicked in the door,” neighbor Jim Heafey told Boston 25 News. “I came out, the flames were probably about 10 feet above the house and coming out the windows. It was a little crazy. My girlfriend was freaking out trying to save the pets, and I was trying to get them all out of the house.”

The house has been completely destroyed, and four people have been displaced. The source of the fire is still under investigation.

While it’s a terrible situation, at least everyone is lucky to be alive, thanks to one very alert poodle.

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