AKRON, Ohio – Richard Beretics was stunned when he pulled up to his house Thursday morning.
“I was hoping it wasn’t bad. I didn’t know,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. The smoke…it was bad.”
A friend called him, saying Beretic’s house on Wood Street was on fire. Thick smoke billowed out of the place he called home for the past 13 years.
“You lose a few things you remember and can’t replace, but all that mattered was her,” he said. “She’s everything. My best friend. Living alone…she’s everything.”
That “her” Beretics cares for is his Rottweiler, Cassie.
The two-year-old dog was trapped inside the house, and Beretics made every attempt to rescue her. After whistling and calling out Cassie’s name, there wasn’t a response.
He thought she was dead.
“Honestly if she wouldn’t have made it, I don’t know what I would’ve done,” he said.
Moments later, two firefighters were able to find the two-year-old dog.
“I was so happy. They came through the smoke, just holding her,” Beretics said. “To me, they’re heroes. It was awesome.”
Though Cassie was unresponsive at first, firefighters were able to rescue the dog with a breathing apparatus.
“What was the neatest thing is when she got up and started moving around, we laughed because she’s very friendly,” Beretics said. “She kept going to each fireman. It looked like, honestly, that she was thanking them. So, it was pretty neat.”
Beretics said Cassie seems to be doing well today.
Now, he hopes to find a home that will suit him and his best friend, whom he’s had since she was a puppy.
The Akron Fire Department said the fire caused about $170,000 in total damages to the house and surrounding property. It’s believe that an electrical short caused the fire.