Dog saves 13 lives from fire in Pagadian City

• Source:http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1371450318600/dog-saves-13-lives-from-fire-in-pagadian-city
• Saturday, December 19, 2015

By Gideon C. Corgue (FPG/GCC/PIA-Zamboanga del Sur)

PAGADIAN CITY (PIA) – A dog saved 13 lives from the fire incident that occurred on Sunday evening at Purok Sampaguita, Balangasan District.

Fire victim Vicky Insong, a widow said her dog named ‘Fadjie’ saved her life and her children and grandchildren when a big fire razed 40 residential houses in the area.

Insong said while they were inside the house, nine-year old Fadjie, tied to her house barked loudly, waking them up.

“Natingala ko kay ang among iro nga si Fadjie nagpaghot ug kusog kaayo. Wala namo tagda tungod kay mopaghot siya sa mga tawo nga iyang makita. Apan dihang siya ang padayon nga nagpaghot straight sa napulo ka minutos, curious ko ug akong gimandoan akong apo nga si Shane-Shane nga abrehan ang pultahan ug nahikurat mi tungod kay dako kaayo nga kalayo ang milamoy sa daghan nga mga balay duol sa amoa,” Insong recounted.

(Our dog (Fadjie) barked louder, but we ignored it since he liked to bark at people he saw. When he continued barking for 10 minutes straight, I was curious and I ordered my granddaughter, Shane-Shane to open the door and we were shocked because the big fire razed down many houses near us.)

“Nagpasalamat ko ug dako sa Ginoo kay tungod ni Fadjie nakalingkawas kami sa dakong kakuyaw. Kung wala ang tabang ni Fadjie nahurot na unta kami karon ug kamatay. Siya gayud ang among bayani,” she added.

(I thanked God because through Fadjie we were saved from great danger. Without Fadjie’s help, we would have been all dead now. Indeed, she is our hero.)

Insong said they all managed to escape the fire by running on bare foot, but they failed to save Fadjie, as they forgot to unlock the chain on Fadjie’s neck.

“Nasubo lang ko kaayo kay naluwas namo ang among kinabuhi apan pakyas namo nga naluwas ang kinabuhi sa among bayani (I am very sad because we had saved our lives and we failed to save the life of our hero),” she rued.

She couldn’t believe her eyes saying “I have never seen such amazing love for a human from an animal.”

“I will always be grateful to my heroic dog, and will always love him, may he rest in peace,” Insong concluded.