COVENTRY, R.I. (WHDH) — A doorbell camera captured the moment two boys came to the rescue of three dogs trapped inside a burning home in Coventry, Rhode Island, on New Year’s Day.
Anthony Lombardi and Mario Comella, ages 12 and 13, said they heard fire alarms going off inside their neighbors’ house before noticing that there were dogs inside the home which was quickly filling up with smoke.
“We saw like dogs and they were all panicking, all like barking; it was so loud, it was going by so fast, it was very crazy,” Lombardi recalled.
The boys’ friend lives in the home so they called him to get the code to open the doors.
They then yelled at the dogs to leave the house.
Two dogs ran outside but a German Shepherd puppy was locked inside his crate.
Comella quickly jumped into action to save the puppy.
“So I was like alright this dog is going to die so I went up and I grabbed it,” he said.
The fire started when one of the dogs accidentally turned on a burner, which eventually caused a wood cutting board that had been placed on the stovetop to catch on fire.
Homeowners Athena DiBenedetto and John Salisbury say the boys are heroes.
“It was very emotional,” DiBenedetto said. “Those are my babies.”
Salisbury added, “I still can’t watch (the doorbell video) without kinda getting teary-eyed just thinking what would of happened if they had been five, 10 minutes later.”
While this particular situation had a positive outcome, firefighters caution that people should never enter a burning home but instead call 911 right away.
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