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| Pit bull a hero in Holly Hill home fire July 26, 2000 by Susan Wright HOLLY HILL - Barbara Tollison's pit bull Buddy has become her hero. The dog, who's lived with her more than two years, helped save both Tollison and her sister from a fire that erupted early last Wednesday in her Pine Ridge Road home. Tollison says she calls Buddy her "56-pound Chihuahua" because he acts more like timid lap dog than a dog that's known as a fighting breed. The morning of the fire, Tollison says, she woke up at 4:30 a.m. to see off Pete Blount, who shares the house with her, as he headed for work. Then she went back to bed. Barely half an hour later, she says, she awoke and smelled smoke. She quickly explored the house and discovered the fire already ablaze in Blount's bedroom. She ran to wake up her sister, Jane Ellol, who was visiting from Connecticut, and ran outside. Buddy followed her. Then, Buddy ran back inside and straight to Ellol's bedroom, where she was still struggling to get out. Tollison says Ellol has arthritis and can't move very quickly when she first gets up. Then, she became disoriented in the unfamiliar house, in the smoke. "He was whining real loud in her room for her. He was with her the whole time. I ran back in and when I got a hold of her, I pulled her out the door. She said she felt like a wet noodle. He came out right behind her," Tollison says. While she says she doesn't remember exactly what woke her up and saved their lives that morning, she's convinced it was Buddy because there was no other noise in the house. "He kind of aroused me, that's the only thing I can think of that got me up," she says. Once he'd gotten the family out, Tollison said, Buddy ran down the road, clearly terrified, and disappeared. She called Blount, who returned from work as the firemen were dousing the fire in the house and they both frantically looked for Buddy, but they couldn't find him. About five hours later, she recalls, a sheriff's car approached and she somehow knew Buddy was inside before she could even see the dog. Volusia County sheriff's deputy Richard Hansard had searched for the dog in the neighborhood and then driven to the Halifax Humane Society to look for the animal. As it happens, someone in the area had picked up Buddy and taken him to the shelter. Because Buddy had the required license and tags, the shelter was able to identify the dog they had in custody and turn him over to Hansard, who took Buddy back home to his very grateful family, Tollison said. Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said Hansard has been recommended for a citation for going beyond the call of duty in finding and returning Buddy. Tollison said it will take 10 weeks to make the house livable again. Meanwhile, she's living in an apartment and Buddy is living in an Ormond Beach boarding kennel. And, she says, when they do get back home, Buddy will be treated like the hero she's sure he is. "I'm going to get him a jeweled collar and just treat him like royalty," she said. |
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| Happy Returns News-Journal - Nigel Cook Barbara Tollison of Ormond Beach gives a hug to her 3-year-old pit bull, Buddy, as the pair were reunited at the Ormond Kennel and Pet Center in Ormond Beach on Tuesday. |
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