Nobody was home when a house on Michillinda Avenue in Pasadena caught fire on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 9. Nobody except Milo, a 6-year-old Shetland Sheepdog.
A 911 call brought crews from the Pasadena, Arcadia and Sierra Madre fire departments. According to the Pasadena Star-News, the fire started in a back bedroom and burned into the floor.
Under the table
Sierra Madre firefighter Jessica Johnson found Milo unconscious beneath a table in the living room. “I barely could see him,” she told ABC7. “I just kind of picked him up, brought him outside, and realized you could feel how limp he was.”
Crews put an animal oxygen mask on him. Within about five minutes, he came around.
“We got him about eight minutes into our operation,” Pasadena Fire Battalion Chief Trey Sorensen told the Star-News. “I think if he’s in there any longer I don’t know if the outcome is the same.”
CBS Los Angeles reported that it was Johnson’s first active house fire. “I shed a little bit of a tear but, you know, you’ve got to keep it professional and continue to do my job, which I did,” she told ABC7.
Back together
On Monday, September 14, Milo and his family met the firefighters again.
“Acting as quickly as they did, risking their lives for somebody else, and trying for it to be the best outcome as possible. I’m forever, forever grateful,” said Leticia, one of Milo’s owners. “They’re truly heroes.”
Her son, Fernando Jr., told CBS Los Angeles: “I just couldn’t believe he’d just gone from the verge of life and death to basically his normal self.”
The family of four expects to be out of the house for several months. Milo has a slight cough, ABC7 reported, and his vet expects a full recovery.
Sources
- ABC7 Los Angeles, Dog reunited with heroic firefighters who rescued him from Pasadena house fire (Sept. 15, 2026)
- CBS Los Angeles, Firefighters reunite with dog they rescued from Pasadena house fire (Sept. 14, 2026)
- Pasadena Star-News via FireRescue1, Dog reunites with firefighters who rescued him from burning Calif. home (Sept. 19, 2026)
