One very lucky dog has a quick thinking police officer to thank for saving his life.
Around 5:30 a.m. Thursday, a sailboat in the San Rafael Yacht Harbor outside of San Francisco caught fire and the flames were quickly spreading.
When police officers arrived at the scene, they learned there was a dog trapped on board the burning boat. On the San Rafael Police Department’s Facebook page, they wrote, "Officers could see the dog cowering in a small area of the deck in an attempt to escape the rapidly encroaching flames."
The fire department was working to put out the flames on the boat, which had been pushed away from the dock but they could not reach the dog.
Officer Travis Ruggles commandeered a small row boat and began to paddle toward the burning boat, officers said. Just in the nick of time, he reached the very scared dog, pulled him to safety and rowed back to the dock for the happy reunion with his owner.
A very winded Ruggles can be heard trying to calm the dog with, "There’s a good dog," as onlookers cheer on the dock. The boat was engulfed in flames a few minutes later.
The small boat community is in the North Bay of the San Francisco Bay area.
(Photos: San Rafael Police Department)
