A 6-year-old Maltese named Bartholomew, known affectionately as “Bertie,” played the role of hero Monday night in a structure fire on Lee Road in Sumrall.
Nycandia Jackson, Bertie’s owner, had just worked a long shift and had a meal at her mom’s house when she got home Monday. She was so tired from working a 12-hour shift that she fell into a deep sleep almost immediately.
Bertie, who sleeps in a dog bed in the living room, typically barks some throughout the night, but his actions Monday were just a bit different. He was barking and scratching at the door frantically, trying to get Jackson’s attention.
Jackson, who was out like a light, doesn’t know how long it took her to wake up, but she eventually got up to quiet Bertie down. When she opened the door, though, she was confused and had no idea what was going on.
To help her see when she gets up at night or to go to work early in the morning, Jackson always leaves a kitchen light above the stove on. But when she opened the door, she couldn’t see it.
“When I opened the door, he just ran in, and I couldn’t even see him. The heat just hit me, and I didn’t know what was going on,” Jackson said. “When I stepped into the hallway, it was like I stepped into something, that’s how thick the smoke was.”
Not being able to see that kitchen light while being engulfed in smoke, Jackson had no idea what was going on but knew she had to get out of there.
She struggled trying to corral Bertie while trying to see through the smoke without her glasses on. Once she had Bertie, she stepped onto her bed, opened the window, threw him out then jumped out herself.
While Jackson isn’t entirely sure what happened when she got out of the window, she said she believes she landed wrong because the next thing she remembers is being awoken, once again, by Bertie, who was licking her face.
“I don’t know if I hit something or what because I don’t remember landing. I just remember waking up because he was licking my face,” she explained.
When Jackson stood up, she realized she didn’t have her phone on her. Not knowing whether or not the house was about to blow up, she ran over to the neighbor’s house to call 911.
Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department Chief Cole Robbins said it could have been so much worse if it wasn’t for Bertie.
“Thankfully the dog woke them up because they didn’t have smoke alarms,” Robbins said. “Because the fire was reported quickly, we got there, extinguished the fire and the damage was very minimal, just to the kitchen area. The rest of the house is in good shape.”
Although Bertie is 6 years old, he has only been with Jackson for less than a year. Bertie was Jackson’s first cousin’s dog, but her cousin tragically died of cancer last year in September. Her cousin, who knew her time was coming, asked Jackson to take Bertie because she knew Jackson would take care of him. Little did either of them know that Bertie would save Jackson’s life.
While the cause of the fire currently remains unknown, Robbins said it could have been an appliance.
Robbins added that it’s extremely important to have working smoke alarms because when you’re asleep, your sense of smell shuts down.
“People don’t wake up when their house catches on fire unless they have a smoke alarm or something else that wakes them up,” he said.
