Sparkles the Dalmatian Teaches Fire Safety -- And Saves Lives

Dalmatians and firefighting have gone hand in paw since the days of horse-drawn fire carriages. (The breed gets along extraordinarily well with horses, forming a tight bond). And while a wagging tail, cute spots and friendly face go a long way in making people happy, one Dalmatian has gone above and beyond the call of duty -- Sparkles, the Fire Safety Dog.

Sparkles was rescued from a home along with 62 other dogs and soon found his calling after being adopted by firefighter Dayna Hilton, who joined the fire service in August 2000 and currently serves as the Fire and Life Safety Educator for Johnson County RFD #1 in Clarksville, Arkansas. She also acts as Executive Director of the Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation.

Since then, Sparkles and Firefighter Dayna have become well-known across the nation through appearances on "PBS KIDS Sprout" and "FOX and Friends." Additionally, Sparkles has been the subject of a children's book about fire safety ("Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog"), has assisted Hilton with fire safety education in schools, and is credited with saving numerous lives, including the lives of two little girls from the same school.

"When I first got Sparkles, I wasn't planning to use her for fire safety, although I knew she was amazing with children," Hilton tells Paw Nation. But after seeing how quickly the pup learned to crawl low ("It only took one time!" says Hilton), she realized that Sparkles could make fire safety a lot more fun for the kids she spent her days teaching. And now, Hilton says, "There's no telling how many miles Sparkles has crawled."

The dog -- and the fire safety instruction -- clearly makes a strong impression with children. In fact, two little girls, who were involved in two separate house fires, named Sparkles as the reason they knew how to get out safely. "I visited with the littlest girl after the fires," Hilton tells us, "and she told me, 'I was under the covers and the smoke came. I crawled out, just like Sparkles did.'"

The story gets even more amazing when you learn that one brave little girl also coaxed her father, who was disoriented from smoke inhalation, out the door to safety. "The house flashed over as soon as they scooped him out of the home," Hilton says. The home was destroyed, but one possession survived: Hilton and Sparkles' fire safety book.

Though Sparkles is now over 10 years old and mostly retired from doing presentations, her work isn't quite done. "We're going to start Skype visits with schools and firehouses!" Hilton tells us, her excitement evident. "We just did one with Frankie, the Walk 'N Roll Dog in Wisconsin. I want to help other firefighters learn how to do this."

With the impact this one special dog has made on children's fire safety education, we hope that these Skype visits allow Sparkles' message to spread like wildfire across the country!

Tags: childrens books, ChildrensBooks, dalmatian, fire safety, firefighter, firefighter dayna, FirefighterDayna, firehouse dog, FirehouseDog, FireSafety, sparkles, sparkles the fire safety dog, SparklesTheFireSafetyDog