Illinois. Police officers honored for rescuing dog from fire and performing CPR

On November 9, 2024By Pranco

Despite the smoke and danger, the officers decided to try to save Shango.

“This was my first experience with a house fire of that magnitude,” Kraus said. “I’ve been involved in house fires, but there’s nothing where you open the door and all you see is a blanket of smoke. But it’s true what they say about rising smoke. So I got down on my hands and knees and looked under the smoke, and I could see the dog maybe 5 to 8 feet inside.”

Kraus crawled over to Shango and pulled the dog out of the house and into the front yard, where he began instructing Hackbarth to resuscitate the dog.

“I was dealing with a little bit of smoke inhalation at the time and despite all my coughing, I was able to tell Officer Hackbarth what to do,” Kraus said. “He did a fantastic job and was able to resuscitate the dog. I have been a CPR instructor for years, but the only reason I knew you could resuscitate a dog was because of a call for help a few years ago.”

In recognition of the officers’ bravery, Black Hawk College in Moline recognized the officers during the fifth annual First Responders Appreciation Event and Criminal Justice Career Exploration Day on Nov. 1 at the Black Hawk College Quad-Cities Campus. Kraus received the 2024 First Responder Hero Award and Hackbarth received a certificate of appreciation.

Black Hawk College invited community members to nominate first responders who are willing to risk their lives for others or who have dedicated themselves to serving their community. The college received 71 nominations for the 2024 First Responder Awards. Incidents or events that occurred 12 months prior to the nomination were taken into account.

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