3-Legged Dog Saves Baseball Coach From Fire

Grayslake Firefighters were called to the home at 318 Banbury Drive in Grayslake at 10:39am today, Nov.1, said Deputy Chief Greg Formica.

“Our crews arrived on the scene within three minutes and found heavy fire coming from the side of the home near the kitchen,” Formica said.

The family pet, a three-legged dog, may have saved his owner, Grayslake Central Baseball Coach Troy Whalen, Formica said. The dog reportedly reacted to a fire in the main level of the home.

Formica said Whalen had been home at the time, upstairs on a conference call. The family dog, who has only three legs, came upstairs and was acting very nervous, Whalen told the firemen. Whalen came downstairs to find the fire already going, tried to put it out and then got the dog and got out of the house to call 911, Formica said.

Grayslake Fire put out a Box Alarm to receive assistance from several other departments, including Countryside, Fox Lake, Gurnee, Lake Villa, Libertyville, Round Lake, Wauconda and Waukegan.

“Our crews started attacking the fire from the outside of the home due to the volume of the fire,” Formica said. Crews were on the scene for about three hours.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

“The damage to the home was extensive,” Formica said. “I would estimate the cost of damages being around $200,000. There was quite a bit of fire damaage on first floor and then smoke and water damage throughout the whole house.”

Formica credited the family pet for giving the alert.

“Thank God for that little three-legged dog,” Formica said. “He got Troy out of there and made sure no one was hurt. It was really fortunate it didn’t happen in the middle of the night.”

The family was not available for comment.