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Dog gets stuck in house during massive fire, survives

LORETTE, Man. — Tippy, the Yorkshire terrier, is no ordinary dog. Three-legged but still full of bounce, the beloved family pet can now add another thing to his list of accomplishments: fire survivor.

The Ikeda family home in Lorette, Man., was rocked by several explosions on Saturday evening.

An electrical fire in the garage ignited gas cans and a propane tank in storage and within minutes, the house was fully engulfed.

“I came running down the hallway and the garage was on fire,” said Ross Ikeda. “I went downstairs and got the kids. We left through the back patio door.”

RELATED: Fire engulfs Lorette home

Smoke and fire could be seen for several kilometres.

It took hours for firefighters to bring down the blaze but everyone inside the home made it out safely and so did their pets — except Tippy.

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“A couple hours had gone by, so we thought he was gone,” said Colleen Ikeda.

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Crews had almost given up looking but while sifting through the rubble, they saw something in the bathrooom. It was Tippy, covered in soot, shivering and wet. He had run to the bathroom to hide and during the fire, a piece of wet drywall had fallen on him, protecting him from the flames and saving him from near certain death.

“They brought him when they gave him oxygen, and I was just overjoyed,” said Colleen Ikeda. “It just made it okay.”

“I would say [the family] has a better chance of winning the lottery than finding a pet that survived a blaze,” said rural municipality of Tache fire Chief Peter Skjaerlund. “But it was a nice ending to a very sad day for them, for the family.”

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