Family Dog Makes Ultimate Sacrifice While Protecting 8-Month-Old From Fire

A family dog sacrificed his life to save an 8-month-old baby during a devastating Baltimore fire last weekend.

The dog, named Polo, covered young Viviana Poremski with his body to protect her from the flames. The girl’s terrified mother, Erika Poremski, was trapped outside the house as the fire raged. She spoke of the incident to a local ABC affiliate about those terrifying moments, and Polo’s actions:

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“I just heard her crying and I couldn’t get to her. I tried really hard, everyone in the neighborhood tried. They were kicking the doors in and kicking the windows out. I couldn’t (get her out). Nobody could… She only had burns on her side because of it. He stayed with her the whole time in the bedroom and wouldn’t even come downstairs to get out the door.”

Firefighters were eventually able to get the girl out, and she was rushed to the hospital for burns on areas of her face, arm, and body that the heroic house pet couldn’t get to. She’s currently in serious condition at a local hospital.

Unfortunately, Polo did not survive.

Poremski spoke about the events afterwards, saying, “He (the dog) was my first baby and now I lost him. And I’m just praying I don’t lose her. She’s all I have and it just happened so fast, I just don’t understand it. I just don’t know why this stuff happens.”

A GoFundMe page set up to help the family recover and pay Viviana’s medical bills has pulled in over $18,000 as of press-time.