{"id":13972,"date":"2016-05-09T17:08:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T17:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/?p=13972"},"modified":"2016-05-09T17:08:14","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T17:08:14","slug":"firefighter-saves-dogs-life-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/?p=13972","title":{"rendered":"Firefighter saves dog’s life twice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watch the report HERE\u203a\u203a<\/a><\/p>\n

Hanahan, SC (WLTX<\/a>) \u2013 How far would you go to save the life of a puppy, a puppy that\u2019s not even yours? One firefighter went above and beyond the call of duty.<\/p>\n

William Linder saved the animal from a burning building and then saved him again when the dog\u2019s owner walked away.<\/p>\n

Lindler trained in Columbia, volunteered in Newberry and is now a fulltime firefighter in Hanahan.\u00a0These days he has a special fondness for Jake,\u00a0 a one year old pit bull, who just happens to be the station mascot.<\/p>\n

William says \u201cJake is a normal, typical puppy. He loves to run and play. He doesn\u2019t hardly want to sit still\u201d.
\nBut Jake is far from normal.<\/p>\n

On April 21, 2015, William was washing his car when he smelled smoke. A building on his neighbor\u2019s property was on fire.\u00a0 William pulled Jake from a burning shed. The 4 pound puppy wasn\u2019t moving or breathing, so William gave Jake life-saving mouth to snout resuscitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe estimated he was in the burning building ten to eleven minutes before we got to him\u201d says William. \u201cJust the volume of smoke and heat that was coming from the fire, he\u2019s lucky to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake was badly burned and needed immediate medical care. but his owners said they couldn\u2019t afford to save the puppies life, so they walked away, leaving Jake at the vet\u2019s office. That\u2019s where William stepped in. He adopted the dog, giving Jake a new \u2018leash\u2019 on life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was burned over 75 percent of his body,\u201d William says. \u201cHe even burned his paw pads. He went through about six weeks of antibiotics to fight off the infection. He had medicated baths twice a day. He was on morphine for 6 weeks. He had to have 24 hour care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the extensive care,\u00a0 the scars on Jake\u2019s body are a permanent reminder of what happened.
\n\u201cUnfortunately fir won\u2019t grow back in these spots. I say unfortunately, for me that\u2019s a test of his character and makes him unique\u201d, says William<\/p>\n

After Jake recovered from his burns, William started taking Jake to work and it didn\u2019t take for fellow firefighters long to\u00a0 welcome him into their family. he was given a badge and a certificate showing he\u2019s the official fire house mascot, complete with Jake\u2019s paw print.\u00a0 William says \u201cIt was just meant to be. this is home for him\u201d.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s more than a mascot. William takes Jake to elementary schools for educational classes about fire prevention.<\/p>\n

He hopes to eventually train him as an arson detection dog.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is such a great all around dog, partner in crime, right hand man. whatever you want to call him \u201c, says William.\u00a0 \u201cNo matter how bad of a day I\u2019ve had, he just tends to make it all better\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"