Hero dog saves girl, 1, from fire by staying inside burning house and alerting firefighters to her location after child in apartment under burned building while playing with lighter
- Chantal, the one-year-old, was trapped in her playpen on the second floor
- Blue, the heroic rescue dog, ran back into the burning building to show firefighters
- Janet Kelly, the child’s mother, claimed that a fire started when the child set fire to the mattress
A heroic dog rescued a baby girl from a burning Detroit home after the child in the apartment below set the building on fire when they were playing with a lighter.
The one-year-old baby named Chantal was trapped in her playpen when flames and thick black smoke engulfed the multi-family building Beniteau Street on Detroit’s East Side, Feb. 21.
Blue, the family’s rescue pit bull-Labrador mix, raced to alert firefighters, then ran back into the burning building to get the firefighters to her location and rescue the toddler.
Janet Kelly, the child’s mother, described her pit bull Labrador mix as her real Lassie. “He’s very protective of all of us,” said the mother of four.
She claimed the fire started in the lower floor after one of the lower tenant’s children was playing with a lighter and accidentally set the mattress on fire.
When the tenants ran to tell the families in the unit to flee, the house had already burned to the ground. Luckily no one was hurt, but Kelly lost everything.
Blue is pictured with baby Chantal after rescuing the toddler from a raging house fire on Feb. 21
The fire destroyed the home on Beniteau Street in Detroit’s Eastside neighborhood
The child’s mother claimed that the child living on the first floor started the fire with a lighter
Kelly spoke about her relative Blue, whom she adopted from an animal shelter two years ago. He had lived on the street.
“Blue ran back into the house because he knew Chantal, my youngest was in her playpen,” Kelly told Fox 2.
“Firefighters had to chase after him and once they got there they realized this was what was going on.”
Kelly said her other three children were with her fiancé and were not home at the time of the fire.
Because she couldn’t stay in a shelter because of her animals, she had to live in her van with her four children, ages 9,7,4 and 1.
As a last resort, she started a GoFundMe.
“Unfortunately we have to turn to lender as we lost everything,” she wrote.
Baby Chantal with her mom, Janet Kelly and the family hero, Blue, a pit bull labrador mix
The family photographed together at the Red Roof Inn in Roseville on Feb. 27
‘On Tuesday afternoon, February 21, 2023 at 4:15 p.m., our whole life will be turned upside down. The house caught fire from the tenants below and the fire spread to our unit.
“My girls have lost everything from clothes to toys to food.
“We are currently staying in our vehicle until we can find a new place to live… I have contacted the landlord (no help).
I’ve contacted churches and organizations, but still no help…so here I am.”
Many donations poured in, including from a woman named Kristen Bell, who donated $2,500, but it’s unclear if this is the actress and the same Kristen Bell who is in the Disney movie Frozen.
As of Thursday, the fundraiser raised a total of $97,694 and Kelly expressed her heartfelt gratitude, telling her supporters that “there are no more donations needed.”
“I want to thank everyone for all the help and everything,” she said. “This money will be used for a new house for us.”
