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Walter Lewis has his 5-month-old dog, Rock, to thank for alerting him to a fire that spread in his Indiana home.
Lewis woke up in the middle of the night for some water downstairs and heard his American bulldog make a noise.
"Whatever he was doing (downstairs) made a noise. I don't know if he knocked something over or whatever, but it made enough noise for me to get on him," Lewis told WANE15. "By the time I made it to the bottom of the stairs, he was running up the stairs and he doesn't ever come up the stairs no matter what. I think that was his way of telling me we've got to go back up.
"I get to the top of the stairs and I see a light on, but I don't remember leaving a light on, so I hadn't seen any smoke or anything like that. I go down the stairs, and when I get to the bottom of the stairs, I see fire and I immediately turn and start yelling for my wife to get up and get the kids up.
"I got everybody out on the roof and threw a blanket out there so we wouldn't slip off of the roof, and I start screaming for help."
When no help came, Lewis had to face his fear of heights to save his family.
"I just said forget it and thought about my family, I couldn't let them burn up so I jumped off of the roof. I didn't scoot to the edge, I just jumped. I went and got my ladder, put it back, and climbed up there. I had to carry my 9-month old in my teeth, by his little sleeper. I had my daughter wrapped up around my arms, and I had to walk down. I had her hold her brother, and I went up there and got my other daughter. Then, I went up and got my wife.
"I tried to get my dog, but he just disappeared in the black smoke."
Rock died in the fire.
"I called him my therapy dog," Lewis said. "He also kept me on my toes and always wanted to play with me or run around. It's crazy because he was like part of my family, he was like one of my kids.
Lewis said that despite how heroic he sounds, he was simply taking care of his family.
"I'm just an ordinary person that would help anybody, but this happened to be the time when I helped my own family. I live to protect my family, and that's what matters. Just like Rock. He lived to protect us."
And the ladder, which Lewis uses for his work fixing houses, now has special meaning.
"It's kind of like my good luck ladder now," Lewis said.
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