Tag Archives: #backtheblue

Florida deputy saves 3-year-old boy hiding under blanket from house fire

Deputy First Class Marcus Dawson to the rescue!

Excerpts from the Fox News story:

“A Florida deputy ran into a burning home on Sunday and rescued a 3-year-old boy who was hiding from the fire and smoke underneath a blanket, authorities said.

K-9 Deputy First Class Marcus Dawson responded to the home in the west section of Palm Coast after a neighbor reported that a fire appeared to have broken out in the kitchen, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said. The neighbor told Dawson that he hadn’t seen the three people who lived there that day.

Dawson checked the home from the outside and saw that a fire on the stove was spreading to the kitchen cabinets, the sheriff’s office said. Dawson yelled commands into the home but didn’t get a response. He saw dogs barking at the rear screen door as black smoke filled the home. 

Dawson saw a bathroom light on at the front of the home and called out again, but received no response. The deputy then returned to the back of the house and entered through the unlocked screened patio and saw movement inside.
“Without DFC Dawson immediately running toward danger, even without a safety respirator, this could have been a much different outcome,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “This child was hiding in fear of the fire and smoke watching a cartoon on his phone when, thankfully, DFC Dawson’s training in emergency response allowed him to find this child and safely rescue him.” 

Read the whole story here.

Apparently the father left the young boy alone with an older sibliing while he went to get dinner. Ugh.

Since you can’t see Deputy Dawson in the video, here’s a picture of him and his regular K-9 partner, Baro.

Photo courtesy of Flagler County Sheriff’s Office

DCG