CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A man who lived in one of the seven homes that were damaged or destroyed by fire Thursday in the Fuller Park neighborhood said he was saved by his dog.
Coy Freeman said he was asleep on the couch in his coach house when his dog, an American Bully, named Rello woke him up by nudging his arm hard.
“This time he took his muzzle and threw my arm up real high,” Freeman told the Tribune. “That’s when I woke up.”
Freeman lived in one of the coach houses, which caught fire from embers from one of the burning houses. He said his dog, Rello, was then frantically scratching at the front door, and the house was filling with smoke.
There were eight other dogs in the house - two adults and six puppies. Freeman said he got four puppies out, but couldn’t save the others.
“It’s tragic,” Freeman said. “I will never be the same after this.”
Of the puppies that were saved, Chicago Fire Department Captain Tom Carbonneau said paramedics gave them oxygen.
"We have a system in the fire department for pets, for animals that we can supply oxygen to them. They were in smoke, they were in smoke condition, so obviously we gave them oxygen to help them out," said Chicago Fire Department Captain Tom Carbonneau.
Freeman said it was the second time his dog alerted him to a fire.
The fire department said the origin of the fire was on the back porch of an abandoned home on the 3900 block of South Princeton.
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