A five-year-old mixed-breed pet dog named Gracie saved the lives of her six family members from a house fire in Nevis, Minnesota on December 22, averting a tragedy.

Early in the morning of December 22, Devin Haegeman was awoken by Gracie, who kept barking frantically in front of his bedroom door. Upon waking, Haegeman, to his horror, heard one of his daughters screaming in her bedroom and immediately realized that something was amiss.

“It was hazy in my room and it smelled nice. It smelled like warm wood, even like a campfire. I build furniture and it just smelled like warm wood sitting next to a heater. And then I opened my door and I just couldn’t see. So I hollered at my wife,” recounted the father of four to Park Rapids Enterprise.

Upon realizing what was happening, Hannah Haegeman rushed to get their two daughters, nine-year-old Emily and four-month old Marcella, out of the house. Devin, meanwhile, searched for their two sons, and found four-year-old Maddox trying to escape the fire. Two-year-old Daniel, however, had fallen asleep in the living room, and Devin reached him just in time to get him out of the burning house.

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With his family safely outside, Devin realized that Gracie was missing, and went back inside to search for her. He found an utterly “terrified” Gracie hiding underneath their bed, and had to drag her out to save “the furriest Haegeman” from the fire.

Commenting on Gracie’s heroism, Devin told the media, “My daughter, whose room is right next to ours, was shouting because the dog woke her up. Our bedroom door is usually open and Gracie sleeps in our room, but we shut it that night and she had all three of our kids woken up before I even knew the house was on fire.”

The Haegemans had been renting a single-wide trailer home behind the Crow Wing Inn at Nevis for the past one-and-a-half years. Although the Fire Department were “on point” and reached their home in time to put out the fire, the blaze left one-third of the house in ruins.

The family are now starting over again, and temporarily living in the Crow Wing Inn free of charge while they rebuild. Both Devin and Hannah had served in the National Guard, and have received assistance from military groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars as well as the Red Cross. A GoFundMe campaign has also been started to help them rebuild, and had raised $11,435 of its $20,000 target as of 9.30pm December 24.