Police Respond to House Fire; Neighbor Tells Them Puppies Are Trapped in Burning Garage

By Amanda Thomason April 16, 2022 at 10:55am

On April 4, a mother dog and several of her puppies nearly died when a house fire broke out in Glendale, Arizona, and no one was home.

Thankfully for the dogs, an observant neighbor spotted smoke shortly before 1:30 a.m. and called 911. The neighbor also knew to warn first responders that there were dogs in the garage, KSAZ-TV reported.

Help arrived to find that a fire had started in the attic, burning through the roof and into sections of the house and garage.

When police pried open the garage door, the mother dog, a Siberian husky, shot out. The officers could hear puppies whining from the inside of the garage, which was illuminated by the fire.

Body-cam footage shows an officer running in and swooping down to put the puppies into a deep, nearby empty food bowl in order to carry them out. Even the kiddie pool they were in had partially melted, and the situation appeared dire.

“Once the puppies were out, officers managed to wrangle up the mother dog and reunite her with her pups at a neighbor’s home,” Glendale City spokesperson Jose Santiago said, according to KSAZ-TV.

The Glendale Police Department and the Glendale Fire Department shared the rescue video.

“While Glendale firefighters began the firefight, Glendale Police saved puppies from the garage during a house fire last night,” the Glendale Fire Department shared on Facebook.

In addition to the mother and puppies, two adult dogs were rescued from the backyard, according to KSAZ. Sadly, one of the seven puppies passed away, due to smoke inhalation, but the other six are expected to be fine.

The dogs were treated at the Arizona Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Center, where veterinarian Enrico Carluen said it was a miracle any of them survived.

“Just seeing that footage for the first time, I would never have expected any of those animals to make it,” Carluen told KSAZ. “I do expect them to continue to do well and make it out of the hospital.”

The fire later was determined to have started because of a malfunctioning swamp cooler, according to KNXV-TV.

Homeowners Sergio & Ana have their second child on the way. The overnight fire took the nursery and smoke inhalation took one of their seven husky puppies. No one was home during the fire. @abc15 https://t.co/BWemSeI8ue pic.twitter.com/aBbY9XTc4D

— Jordan Bontke (@JBontkeABC15) April 4, 2022

Homeowners Sergio and Ana Sandoval were not home at the time of the fire, per the outlet. Ana, who is pregnant with their second child, was staying with family nearby while Sergio finished an overnight shift at work.

The neighbors also called them to alert them to the fire, and they rushed over to find that first responders already had saved their pets. Unfortunately, half of their home — including the nursery for their baby — had been destroyed.

“Mom and the puppies rescued by Glendale PD from the house fire, went home from the vet today,” the fire department shared the day after the fire. “Sadly one of the pups did not survive but you can see the others are doing wonderfully.

“The family is now facing a large bill. CPiC Companion Pets In Crisis have stepped in to help. If you want to donate towards this families bill you can do so at www.cpicaz.org.”

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