Officer climbs through window to rescue 3 dogs from burning home

By WABC staff

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    ROCKY POINT, Long Island (WABC) — A Suffolk County police officer rescued three dogs trapped in a home that caught fire on Sunday evening.

It happened at a home on Magnolia Drive in Rocky Point just after 5 p.m.

Officer Matthew Ingui said he arrived and was told no one was in the home, but there were still dogs trapped inside. So he popped out the screen of a window and climbed inside.

“They were on the couch, they looked a little nervous, it was starting to get a little smoky in there,” Ingui said on Monday. “I have three dogs myself. I treated them like they were my dogs, just had to get them out, make sure they were safe.”

He said it was getting hard to breathe and his eyes were starting to burn, but he picked up the dogs, took them to the window, and a neighbor helped get them out of the house.

Ingui said one of the dogs wasn’t too happy to see him and almost bit him, but he was able to get him out.

The residents of the home were not inside at the time and no injuries were reported. The dogs’ owner, Kim Hoffman, wasn’t far behind.

“She walked up, she was crying, the first thing she said was ‘where are my dogs,'” Ingui said. “I said the neighbor has them, they’re all OK.”

This isn’t the officer’s first pet rescue. Ingui said a few months ago he rescued a cat from a house that was fully engulfed in flames – also in Rocky Point.

He said when he arrived at the house the homeowner told him her cat was still in the house so Ingui went in and found the cat hiding underneath the bed.

“It’s part of the job, this is what we do, we’re just here to preserve all life,” Ingui said.

The cause of the fire is not believed to be criminal at this time.

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