Family pit bull alerts deaf teen of fire

rockin'robin

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INDIANAPOLIS – A 2-year-old male pit bull named Ace was being hailed as a hero Wednesday afternoon after waking his deaf owner during a devastating house fire.

At 1:11 p.m., Indianapolis firefighters were called to fight a fire at a home in the 6400 block of Perry Pines Court, on the city's southeast side, officials said. Upon their arrival, flames were shooting from the garage.

Officials said Nick Lamb, 13, who is deaf, was sleeping in the house at the time. Ace was able to alert Nick and wake him by licking his face.

"He was thankful that Ace entered his room and licked his face until he woke up," Indianapolis Fire Department Capt. Rita Reith said in a news release. "The boy quickly covered his nose and mouth with his T-shirt and exited the rear of the house."

Nick said he was taught at school about covering his face and finding the nearest exit. Without his shoes but with Ace by his side, he darted out the back door before calling his mother and 911.

"I couldn't hear anything because I had my cochlear implants off. ... My dog Ace smelled it," Nick said. "I just wanted to get out."

The fire-blackened home had $175,000 in damage. But Ace and Nick made it out safely. No one else was home when the fire started.

Lindsay Bernard, Nick's mother, said she rushed home from work after getting a call about the fire.

"I went into a little bit of a panic," she said.

Reith added that the family's black cat, named Pixie, was located by a firefighter inside the home and appears to be OK.

Bernard said Pixie inhaled a bit of smoke and would be spending the night at the vet.

"(Nick) told firefighters that this was the first summer he was old enough to stay home alone and was excited to have reached that milestone," Reith said. "He had just returned from summer camp on Sunday."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Reith said. The homeowners believe that it was electrical and originated in the garage.

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Family pit bull alerts deaf teen of fire
 
I think it's interesting that dog licked the boy face to wake him up . I heard of dogs barking to wake up their family when there is a fire. I wonder if the dog realize the boy is deaf and barking would not helped .
 
Did he not have a smoke detector (strobe/bed shaker) or did it not wake him up?
 
Did he not have a smoke detector (strobe/bed shaker) or did it not wake him up?

It does say anything about this so I guess they do not have any alarms for deaf people. They might not know about them ??
 
Did he not have a smoke detector (strobe/bed shaker) or did it not wake him up?


Many people are lax in that kind of prevention stuff, even not replacing smoke detector batteries in the alarms for years. A high percentage of deaf individuals dont have smoke detector system to specifically alert them.
 
It's wonderful to see these animals get good press for a change. I wish I had one....


Laura
 
Did he not have a smoke detector (strobe/bed shaker) or did it not wake him up?

I have noticed that with several families who have deaf children with CIs tend not to get deaf related products. Probably thought there was no need for them if their child can function like a hearing person with a CI. Too often I have met families who said why bother if their child is fine in the hearing world. What they forget that their child is still deaf. That's dangerous thinking.

Just a theory or like someone said, probably not aware of them.

We probably wouldn't know but thank god for the dog.
 
I have noticed that with several families who have deaf children with CIs tend not to get deaf related products. Probably thought there was no need for them if their child can function like a hearing person with a CI. Too often I have met families who said why bother if their child is fine in the hearing world. What they forget that their child is still deaf. That's dangerous thinking.

Just a theory or like someone said, probably not aware of them.

We probably wouldn't know but thank god for the dog.

I don't have any deaf products either other than a deaf alarm and I wouldn't be able to hear the fire alarm if it went off. I imagine if I lived alone, I'd have no choice but to install them since I wouldn't have anyone to alert me. I think with many people, it's just not something they think of. I'm sure there's a number of hearing people that have no batteries in their smoke alarms and or haven't bothered to change them regularly. Unfortunately, many people don't think of the dangers until it happens.
 
I don't have any deaf products either other than a deaf alarm and I wouldn't be able to hear the fire alarm if it went off. I imagine if I lived alone, I'd have no choice but to install them since I wouldn't have anyone to alert me. I think with many people, it's just not something they think of. I'm sure there's a number of hearing people that have no batteries in their smoke alarms and or haven't bothered to change them regularly. Unfortunately, many people don't think of the dangers until it happens.

He is a kid..the parents are responsible for ensuring that he has every product to keep him safe. The parents weren't at home.

If a deaf adult wants to put themselves at risk by not getting these products, none of my business but that's a child.
 
When I was a teen going to high school, my dad had got drunk one night and passed out. He left all four burners on the stove on high and bread that was near caught fire. Eventually the cabinets caught fire, as well. Apparently the smoke detector was going off, but I didn't hear it, of course. I had set my alarm to get up earlier than usual so I could play on my new computer (my dad wouldn't let me play games on it on a school night). That alarm that I set probably saved both our lives.

I'm not sure why my family didn't make it a point after that to get deaf/hoh-related products to ensure that something like that didn't happen again. More than likely they weren't aware they existed. I didn't know of anything that'd help me until I hit my mid-20's when I discovered alarm clocks that'd shake my bed instead of cranking one loud enough to wake the neighbors, as well as myself.

By the way, I thought I saw something a while back where a smoke detector with WiFi would alert your phone/watch by vibration and lights that it was going off. I wonder if that's something that is available at this point. There's no reason why it couldn't be done.
 
He is a kid..the parents are responsible for ensuring that he has every product to keep him safe.

This is true for every family - deaf or not. Not everyone thinks when they should....
 
This is true for every family - deaf or not. Not everyone thinks when they should....

Just makes me mad when some parents say that they don't need flashing lights in their houses because they think their deaf child functions normally with their CIS. Come on.....

However, that's what I wonder with this family.
 
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