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Dog Saves Lives of Entire Family from Blaze That Burned Home to Ground

By Amanda Thomason November 9, 2018 at 2:14pm

A brown pit bull named Milo recently saved his entire family when a fire broke out in the garage. Knowing something was wrong, Milo trotted into Dave and Carrie Hansen’s room.

Like any kid would, the pup tried to wake mom first. Like any dog owner would, Carrie told the dog to go back to sleep.

But Milo did not obey. He kept pestering her until she began to realize that something was wrong.

“He was up in her face, trying to get her to wake up, I guess,” Dave later said during an interview with KBJR. “She was telling him to go back to bed. Finally, she noticed it was smoke in there.”

“He ran to the garage, she followed him, and it was solid smoke in there,” he said.

Fortunately, the dog was able to wake up the family and “explain” what was going in typical Lassie-style, and they were all able to get out unharmed. Dave wasn’t ready to call it quits, though, and took a hose to the fire.

“In my mind, I was going to put it out … I just stood there and sprayed it,” he explained. “The torch tanks were laying there, and the welder was sitting there. Once the fire got around them, I was just like ‘time to go.'”

“I never thought it was going to burn down,” the brave homeowner explained. “I wasn’t even worried about, you know, getting anything out, or saving photos, or any of that stuff.”

Has your dog ever done something courageous like this?

Unfortunately, the fire took over the entire house and destroyed all the family’s belongings. “Basically, everything I own was in there,” Dave said.

But it gets worse — not only did their possessions burn, but their house wasn’t insured because it wasn’t completed yet. The Hansens are thankful to have their lives, but they have a long road ahead of them.

“My parents have lost everything they’ve built for themselves in a devastating house fire,” Adrieona, the Hansen daughter, wrote on the GoFundMe page she set up for her parents.

“We estimate the damage to be about $750,000 between the house, cars, and tools lost for my dads business. Everything they have spent their whole life building has been lost.”

“Because the home was not finished we were unable to insure it, so everything lost has to be replaced out of their pockets.”

Dave is a mechanic and worked out of his garage, so now both his home and his means of work are gone. Many generous people have stepped in with monetary and other donations to help the family get back on its feet.

Hansen knows what’s important, though, and he still has those things. “I got my kids and my family, my wife, dog,” he said — all thanks to Milo.

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