It was a rough rescue.
An off-duty New York City firefighter rescued four French bulldogs from a burning Brooklyn apartment on Friday after an electric bike exploded just outside of him in a “huge fireball,” he told The Washington Post.
“I said, ‘We’ve got to go right now,'” Smoke Eater Hero Joe Pendergast, 33, told the panicked apartment dwellers.
“He said, ‘The dogs, I’ve got to bring the dogs!’ I said, ‘Don’t worry about the dogs, I’ll bring the dogs, I’ve got to go’.”
Pendergast was driving from his Staten Island home to Ladder 113 in Prospect Lefferts Gardens around 7:30 a.m. when he saw black smoke billowing from the building.
He parked his car and a panicked woman led him to a burning apartment on the second floor, where nine French bulldogs and their owner were.
“The door had melted from the heat. It was a steel door,” he said. “I was just measuring it and trying to see what I could do with what I had at the time.”
Despite the smoke and raging flames, the owner continued to try to save the puppies.
“It took some convincing because he didn’t want to leave the dogs behind,” Pendergast said.
But the “fight or flight” response kicked in and they both ran out of the apartment, with Pendergast crawling on his hands and knees under the smoke.
Just as they were about to leave, an electric bicycle near the front door suddenly exploded (presumably its battery causing the fire).
“There was no sound, no whoosh or anything, it just exploded,” he said.
“It created a huge fireball. It was like setting a Christmas tree on fire. The heat that came right after was incredible.”
One of Ladder 113’s co-workers rushed to the building and helped put out the fire and rescue four French bulldogs from the home.
Sadly, the other five dogs also died.
Pendergast said he suffered second-degree burns to his hands from grabbing the door handle as he left the house.
Ultimately, e-bike fires are easily preventable, making responding to them “very frustrating,” he said.
“Use the right charger and don’t use it in the home,” he said. “It’s very dangerous.”
