Amateur video out of Tennessee captures the moment a complete stranger runs into a burning home – and comes out carrying the family dog.
The fire broke out at the Springfield, Tennessee home of April and Brandon Gourley this past Saturday at around 5:00 PM.
Cross Plains Fire Chief Tommy Jackson told Smokey Barn News that the fire started in the kitchen, and preliminary reports indicate it may have been an electrical fire.
Luckily, neither April nor Brandon were home at the time of the fire, as they were away celebrating their seven-year wedding anniversary. Neither were any of the couple’s four children.
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Unfortunately, the family’s pets – including their 1-year-old Bouvier Sampson – were still inside the home.
As neighbours called 911 and looked on from the front lawn as the fire consumed the home, a total stranger suddenly leapt into action.
“This guy in a grey Mustang pulls up, says, ‘I do this for a living,’ and he runs in and he comes out about two minutes later with this beautiful dog in his arms, and it was incredible to see,” Jimmy Nichols, the man who shot the above video, told WSMV News in Nashville, Tennessee.
For several tense minutes, we don’t see the Good Samaritan emerge from the burning home, as flames continue to consume the roof and upper levels.
The man’s decision to run in after the dog isn’t universally-admired either, with one of the bystanders calling the man an “idiot” as he waits for him to return.
Eventually the man emerges, dog safely in tow.
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“He got in his car and he left; it was so weird, he just took off,” said Nichols.
“Literally 30 seconds after that guy got out, that roof collapsed.”
Eventually, the family was able to identify Sampson’s rescuer as Tim Tawater, an off-duty Springfield firefighter – which would explain the “I do this for a living” comment.
“I want to really thank him for everything he has done. It’s just really an act of kindness,” the couple’s 13-year-old daughter Kirsten Spilka told WKRN-TV in Nashville, Tennessee.
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