When a house fire threatened the lives of three dogs, two unlikely heroes didn’t hesitate to step up and save the day.
On New Year’s Day, Anthony Lombardi and Mario Comella, 12- and 13-year-old boys from Coventry, Rhode Island, were riding their bikes when they heard fire alarms from a friend’s house, WPRI reported.
Investigating, they saw smoke coming out of the neighbor’s home — and realized there were three dogs still inside.
“We saw the dogs, they were panicking and barking, and it was so loud,” Anthony told the outlet.
The family wasn’t home, and with no time to spare, they called their friend and got the home’s access code. With the door unlocked, they were able to call two of the dogs out of the burning home.
But one dog, a German Shepherd puppy named Chase, was still inside, locked in his crate.
Then, one of the boys did something incredible: Mario didn’t hesitate to run into the smoke-filled home and get the dog to safety. The dramatic moment was captured by the family’s doorbell camera.
“With all of the smoke billowing in the house, he didn’t even think twice,” homeowner Athena DiBenedetto told WPRI. “He ran in and let the dog out.”
“It was very emotional. Those are my babies,” she said, saying she gets “teary-eyed” thinking about what could’ve happened if they weren’t there.
The homeowners were very grateful to the boys, praising them as heroes.
It turned out the fire was actually caused by one of the dog’s on accident: one of the pets turned on a stove burner, which ignited a wooden cutting board.
Thankfully, all the dogs are safe now. The story hit close to home for Mario: in a remarkable coincidence, his uncle lost his dogs to a fire exactly a year before.
“I was thinking, ‘this happened to my uncle, so I’m not going to let this happen to my friend,’” the heroic boy explained.
Thank you to these boys for saving these dogs’ lives! You’re true heroes.
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