Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, rescued from a home with 62 other dogs and who helped save the lives of 7 children and 2 adults from fire with her fire safety efforts, has been nominated for USA Today's Most Heroic Dog of 2010.
Sparkles is honored to share this nomination with four other amazing dogs, including Target, who was an amazing heroic dog and helped save the lives of 50 soldiers. Target is a hero in our hearts and we know that she is truly deserving of this award. We do hope that Sparkles can come in second.
Five year old Angelica shared this story with me, "Firefighter Dayna~ I was in bed under the 'cobers' and the smoke came. I crawled out of bed and crawled low, just like Sparkles [the Fire Safety Dog] showed me to. I said, 'C'mon daddy, you have to get on the floor and crawl low like Sparkles.'"
By this time, her dad was disoriented because he had been standing in the smoke filled room. Thankfully, he was able to follow Angelica out of the house. The firefighters later shared with me that Angelica's father followed her out of the home and they said that as soon as he reached the door, the firefighters scooped him up and took him to the hospital (where he spent 7 days~ 4 in ICU). Immediately after they carried him away from the front door, the firefighters stated that the home flashed over (a "flashover" is where the home totally becomes engulfed in flames).
You may watch a video of the story of Sparkles' life saving efforts and hear more about this incredible story HERE.
Although Sparkles recently passed away, her passion for helping keep children fire safe will live on. Thank you to USA Today for nominating Sparkles and for helping raise awareness of the importance of fire safety.
Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog's latest campaign, along with the other fire safety dogs, Tango and Siren, is to help raise $29,000 for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Since 1992, the tax-exempt, nonprofit Foundation has developed and expanded programs to honor our fallen fire heroes and assist their families and coworkers. Sparkles work also continues through her foundation, the Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation, dedicated to helping keep children fire safe. Please click HERE to vote & then click on the blue star above Sparkles' picture.
Please help share the word, and you will be helping keep Sparkles' memory alive as well as helping her share the fire safety message.
Please feel free to use this button below on your website or Facebook page after you have voted.
Join Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog on FACEBOOK.
Join Dayna, Tango and Siren live on Fireengineering.com Radio to learn all the latest about the adventures of the fire safety dogs and about Sparkles' Kids Zone, only on firelife.com! 7:30 ET
For more information on Sparkles and her memorial service, please visit http://www.sparklesthefiresafetydog.com/sparklesmemorialpathway.html. To watch the live stream of Sparkles' memorial service, visit http://www.sparklesthefiresafetydog.com/sparklesmemorialservice.html.
