20-year-old saves stranger's dog from fire

DRACUT, Mass. - A 20-year-old Dracut man saved a complete stranger’s dog Saturday when he sprinted into a burning house.

It was early Saturday morning when Michael Patenaude was driving back from his friend's house, when he saw a house on Varnum Street on fire.

“When I looked, obviously it look like nobody knew it was happening it,” he said.

He immediately stopped the car and he saw the homeowner running down the driveway carrying a dog.

“I said is there anybody else in the. She said ‘no, just my dog - my dog is in there,’” said Patenaude.

Patenaude, being a dog lover himself, ran straight inside the house without a second thought, pulling his sweatshirt over his face.

There was thick black smoke and fire everywhere inside.

“They are above me, next to me and they are just crackling. You just see bright orange, thick smoke,” he said.

Patenaude was frightened, he was choking on the thick smoke, but he kept frantically calling for the dog. The pup, a Yorkie, kept running away out of fear.

“I was like, ‘come here puppy, come here puppy,’” he said.

He was finally able to grab the Yorkie and made a run for it. Patenaude says, he was determined to get the dog out.

“You risked your life for a Yorkie. When you put it that way, it sounds a little crazy, if you see a 76-year-old lady no house with just her two dogs, it's like her kids almost,” he said.

The 20-year-old says he is thinking about becoming a firefighter. Luckily, everyone made out safely. It's still unclear how the fire started.

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