Puppy awarded honorary firedog for alerting grassfire, saving family
A fire threatened a Lincoln family's home until their rescue pup
By Kalé Searcy
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LINCOLN, Nebraska (KETV) — Just before Memorial Day, a fire threatened a Lincoln family’s home until their rescue pup helped contain the fire.
Neko, an 8-month-old rescue, took the job “watchdog” to another degree.
“Lucky. Lucky we had him,” Adam Welke said.
Adam and Hannah Welke said it was a typical day until Neko made an alarming discovery.
“He was begging to go outside, so I let him out and a couple of minutes after, after he was out here, he started barking like mad,” Adam said.
Adam said he quickly realized something was wrong.
“Came out and the fence was on fire,” Adam said.
And with the dry hot weather, the fire began to spread.
“Started over here. Burn some dry leaves and got onto our fence. Came over and got our garage or a little shed over there. Got into the garage and up in the attic,” Adam said.
Neko’s bark gave them a head start to the growing flames, with Adam grabbing a hose and Hannah getting out of the house and dialing 911.
“The smoke detectors never went off because everything was outside of the house,” Hannah said.
She said the Lincoln Fire Department put out the blaze and helped their two cats get out safely.
They honored Neko for his bravery as an “honorary fire dog.”
“Look at how proud you are,” Hannah said.
Hannah said they saved him in December, and now Neko repaid the favor with a life-saving rescue.
“Getting us out. I don’t know, probably 2, 3, 5 minutes before we would have otherwise,” Hannah said.
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