ATLANTA – A Georgia family’s pet Chihuahua might be small, but she has a loud bark, and she put it to good use recently -- alerting her family that their house was on fire.
Sandra Thomas said she was asleep on the couch in the front room when her house caught fire a little after midnight.
But Bella the Chihuahua is always at her side and always aware.
“That’s my baby right here. … She’s always with me,” Thomas said. “She heard it, and she was trying to tell me to get up because she kept barking and barking and barking.”
Thomas knew Bella was serious.
“She would growl at me and let me know we need to get out of here or get up or do something,” Thomas said.
As the fire spread, Bella jumped up next to her.
“I said, ‘Girl, what’s wrong with you? You know not to jump in my chair,’ and when I looked up, I saw flames,” Thomas said, recalling the harrowing moments.
The dog also alerted her grandson who got out of the burning home.
Atlanta firefighters put out the fire quickly, and they credit Bella with saving lives.
“That small dog able to get everyone up and get them out that way, nobody needed to be rescued,” said Atlanta Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Matt Driver.
The family is now getting help from the American Red Cross to start rebuilding, but they are thankful for their lives -- and for Bella.
“God was there with my dog, and he was there to show my dog how to help me get up,” Thomas said.
The fire is under investigation. Authorities believe it might have started in the laundry room.