HALL COUNTY, Ga. — A Hall County sheriff’s deputy risked his own life by going into a burning house three times to rescue those who were inside.
Deputy Perry Cook told Channel 2’s Berndt Peterson that he had the day off on June 8.
"My dogs were bugging me and wanting to go outside. So, I brought them outside and I saw Miss Martha's house. I saw behind it some smoke coming up. I'm, like, ‘Please tell me Miss Martha isn’t burning leaves,’” Cook said. %
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She wasn’t.
It was 80-year old Martha Coley’s house on Thorn Bush Drive in Gainesville that was on fire.
"Actually, the door was cracked about 6 inches, so I pushed the door open,” Cook said.
Inside, Cook found a 12-year-old foster child he says Coley cared for.
"'You got to get out.' So, she meets me up here and I'm, like, ‘Where's Miss Martha?’" Cook asked.
Cook went into the burning house a second time and found Martha Coley grabbing pictures off the wall.
"So, I get her out to her car. And the whole time she's yelling, ‘I got to get Lulu.’ And I'm, like, ‘Who is Lulu?’" Cook said.
The deputy went in a third time, and at the back door found Lulu, a golden retriever.
He says each time he went in, the flames had spread.
But he got all the inhabitants out safely just before firefighters arrived.
"I just did it -- a natural reaction. Tell me somebody is in trouble, we got to help. We got to go,” Cook said.
Cook says Coley suffered a couple of broken bones in a fall outside the house. She’s staying with relatives.
He says the child and the dog are fine.
The fire was likely caused by an electrical problem.