Dog Thought to Be Dead Survives House Explosion and Days in Wreckage

A Virginia family feared their beloved dog was dead after a house explosion until they reunited with the brave canine six days after the incident.

According to local CBS news station WUSA9, two families were displaced by a home explosion in Haymarket, Virginia, on Oct. 14. Megan Schnapp and her partner Joshua Jeffries lived in the home where the explosion occurred. They were outside their home when the incident happened. One of their two dogs, Brandy, was not, so the couple feared she perished in the accident.

WTOP news reported that the 5-year-old pup had been sequestered upstairs while repairers were working on a water pipe that day.

Days after the explosion, on Oct. 21, when an insurance inspector examined the property with Schnapp, he heard a dog barking among the rubble. Schnapp soon realized the barking was coming from Brandy, who had survived the explosion but was trapped in the debris left behind. After locating the dog alive, Brandy’s owner called Prince William Professional Firefighters to help rescue her.

After 20 minutes of the fire department using “stabilizing shoring techniques,” as per WTOP news — and Jeffries persuading Brandy with some ham — the dog walked out of the rubble on her own. Though she was shaken at first once free of the wreckage, Brandy was overjoyed to be reunited with her family.

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Brandy was taken to the vet right after the rescue. The explosion caused minor cuts and burns, but otherwise, she seemed well. “Now our family is complete again,” Schnapp said via WTOP.

A Facebook post from the Prince William Professional Firefighters on Oct. 21 said the dog is expected to fully recover following the incident.

Lt. Mark Waldrop told WUSA9 that they were surprised Brandy was still alive after the explosion and survived six days without food or water. They also said Brandy might’ve been trapped in void space, which occurs in structural collapses, creating “livable conditions” among the rubble.

“She appeared to be in good shape and showed her happiness of being freed by rapid tail wagging,” assistant chief Matt Smolsky said about the incident, as per NBC Washington.

Investigators are investigating what caused the explosion after a private contractor working on a waterline in Brandy’s home “hit and ruptured” a gas line, via NBC Washington.

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This isn’t the first time pets have survived dangerous incidents that could have turned deadly. In April, a dog in its crate survived a tornado in Nebraska, with winds strong enough to lift the Zeus, the 1-year-old Rottweiler, and the crate four blocks across the neighborhood.

“He lost some of the nails on his paw, he’s a little stiff on this hind leg, and he had some scratches on his nose,” a local rescue nonprofit told KTMV. “But from what he went through, he’s pretty darn lucky.”