In Santiago de Chile, Chile, firefighters from Santiago’s Sixth Fire Rescue Unit rushed over to a house on fire. While rescuers fought to extinguish the blaze and save house residents, firefighter David Bravo ran inside and carried out the lifeless body of a dog. On instinct Bravo started performing CPR on the canine. He gave the pet mouth-to-snout saving the life of the dog called Gorda Bella.
Bravo’s heroic actions were caught on video.
The 27-year-old Chilean hero works as a kinesiologist in Santiago’s El Pino hospital and has been a volunteer firefighter for nine years.
“We answered an emergency call around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, [July 21],” Bravo told Dia a Dia. “As soon as the flames were under control we entered the house and I saw the dog on the floor, not breathing and unresponsive. I took her outside and started giving her mouth-to-snout CPR.”
Bravo had never seen nor had he been trained in dog CPR, but he decided to give it a try as if Gorda Bella was a person. He succeeded.
“The dog was unconscious and I didn’t think she would bite me while I tried to revive her,” Bravo told 24 Horas. “The risk of being bitten didn’t cross my mind. I just knew I had to revive her.”
The blaze claimed a total of two lives, the house owner and another dog. Gorda Bella lived in the house with three other canines and her loving human family.
After being rescued and revived, Gorda Bella and her canine siblings stayed at a neighbor’s house. The dog is recovering from burns, stress and shock. She is not eating much but has regained enough strength to walk around and visit the remnants of her scorched home.
Gorda Bella is alive today thanks to Bravo’s heroic actions and love for animals. The world needs many more heroes like him.
