David Hoffman was running errands when he got a frantic phone call that his home was on fire. His disabled wife Melissa Hoffman and their pets were trapped inside.
The call was from his daughter-in-law, Ingrid Hoffman, who said she tried to get Melissa out of her bedroom, but the heat and smoke were so intense she had to flee. David, 69, rushed to his home in Citrus Heights, California, that morning, Aug. 15, and saw the duplex in flames. He started to run inside to Melissa.
“It was so smoky and hot, it blew me back,” said David, explaining that Melissa, 64, had a stroke earlier this year and is unable to walk.
He didn’t know then that Melissa had reached for her wheelchair and fell to the floor, and their dog, Maya, was lying on top of her – which rescue workers said helped save her life.
“I broke open the back window and started spraying water inside from our garden hose,” David said. “The whole time, I was shouting at Melissa to keep talking to me, that we were going to get her out.”
Fire crews quickly arrived and rushed to the back of the house, searching in the dark smoke for Melissa.
“One of our rescue guys caught a glimpse of some fur on the floor, and they found the dog on top of the woman,” said Capt. Ryan McMahon of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. “They grabbed the lady and the dog and got them out to rescuers at the back window.”
Rescue workers thought Maya, an 8-year-old pit bull mix, was no longer alive when she was pulled from the duplex.
“We all thought the dog didn’t make it,” said fire Capt. Josh Leonard. “She wasn’t moving and didn’t appear to be breathing.”
Not only was the dog still alive, rescuers said that by lying on Melissa’s chest and protecting her face, Maya was a hero.
“The dog was unconscious on her chest, protecting her airway, and ended up taking the brunt of the heat,” Leonard said.
“That dog absolutely saved her life and is a hero.”
Capt. Mark Nunez, spokesman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, said the way the dog positioned herself on Melissa is what saved her human until firefighters could rescue them.
“Think of it as someone standing in front of you and blocking the wind that is pushing in your direction,” Nunez said.
He added that he’s seen this behavior before with dogs.
“Calls that we have seen that involve dogs, there’s usually an instinctual bond that the dog has with their owner, and they feel the need to protect them,” Nunez said.
Melissa, who suffered third-degree burns on 60% of her body, was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Leonard said it was then that he and his crew were shocked to see Maya struggling to breathe on the lawn.
“We quickly got a mask on the dog to give her some oxygen, and we revived her,” Leonard said. “We knew we’d gotten Maya and the lady out of the house just in the nick of time.”
David said his wife is now recovering from her wounds at a burn center and will need numerous skin grafts and months of rehab therapy. Melissa had a stroke in February and was making good progress until the fire broke out, he said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and firefighters were able to control the blaze before it destroyed the other side of the duplex, he added, although the unit sustained smoke damage.
“We lost everything, including one of our kittens, but I’m so thankful that (Melissa) was saved, and Maya was saved,” David said. “That dog has been a hero since we got her as a puppy. She’s always been extremely devoted.”
He said he wasn’t surprised to learn that Maya stayed by his wife’s side in an emergency.
“She’s extremely close to Maya and calls her ‘Sweet Pea,’” he said. “Maya sleeps on the bed with her and is always by her side.”
The Veterinary Specialty Hospital in Roseville, California, treated Maya’s burns at no charge after they learned about his family’s losses, said David, who is now living in an Airbnb rental. Relatives started a GoFundMe account to help pay for the portion of Melissa’s medical bills not covered by insurance, he said. More than $9,000 has been donated so far.
Hoffman said that a local cat lover recently gave him a new ragdoll kitten to replace the kitten that died in the fire.
“She’s become best friends with Maya, and I decided to name her Miracle,” he said.
As for Maya, she is now home and recovering from burns on her side and on her tongue from the hot smoke in the house, he said.
“She’d been licking Melissa while she laid on top of her,” he said. “She took some of the burns that Melissa would have taken.”
On Sept. 9, Hoffman returned to the vet with Maya for a reunion with the firefighters who saved the dog’s life. KCRA Television covered the event, which included lots of head pats and “good girl” comments for Maya.
“Everyone wanted to thank Maya for her bravery, and we wanted to thank them,” Hoffman said.
McMahon said it was rewarding for firefighters to see the dog happily rushing around from one person to the next.
“A lot of times in the fire service, you don’t find out what happens to people and animals afterward,” he said. “You don’t always get to close that loop. It was really nice to close this one.”