Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog
March 3, 2010 by Paris and John
Filed under Dog of Day
My Dog: Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog
Age: 8
Breed: Dalmatian
What I Love About Sparkles: My name is Firefighter Dayna Hilton and I would love to share the amazing story of how my four-legged friend, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog (rescued from a home with 62 other dogs), has been able to help reach millions of children and their caregivers with the fire safety message.
To date, Sparkles has helped save the lives of two children and their two families. We put a video about Sparkles for children on her blog at that you are welcome to watch.
Five year old Angelica shared her 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 and thankfully he was able to follow Angelica out of the house. The brave 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, they scooped him up and took him to the hospital (where he spent 7 days there~ 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).
A day doesn’t go by where I don’t think of Angelica and her story and I am so thankful that she and her dad are safe.
Sparkles and I do what we do, not for financial gain, but to help keep children, like Angelica, fire safe. Every fiber of our being goes to help spread the fire safety message.
Sparkles is busy dog, sharing the fire safety message on her website (www.sparklesthefiresafetydog.com), blog, twitter and Facebook page .
Sparkles has truly found her calling and I am so grateful that she is in my life.
– contributed by Firefighter Dayna in Clarksville, AR
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