Ambridge Woman Saved From Fire By Dog "Charlie"
AMBRIDGE (KDKA) – A woman escaped a fire that destroyed her house overnight, thanks to her dog.
She says she woke up just in time.
Cheryl Shymoniak came back to her burned out house on Maple Avenue in Ambridge with her faithful dog Charlie by her side.
When the fire started Friday night, she says Charlie tried to warn her.
"I was sound asleep and he started on my arm when he has to go to the bathroom or something," she said. "I kept saying, 'no, no, it's not time.'"
But Charlie was persistent. He refused to stop grabbing her arm until she finally got out of bed, thinking he wanted water.
"I opened up the door, I smelled smoke and I closed the door behind me," she said. "Then I took a couple steps down the steps, the smoke was really bad."
A neighbor shot cell phone video of the flames shooting out the front window. By then, Shymoniak grabbed her. Two dogs and two cats – and got out, all because Charlie refused to give up.
"I could have died in there," said Shymoniak.
"He's my baby, my hero forever," she said.
"It was nothing but god's grace and mercy that got her out of there when her animals woke her up," said neighbor Tracia Bratton.
Ambridge firefighters returned to the house to investigate the cause, but it's still unknown.
Shymoniak and her husband and her pets will have to find a new place to live.
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