Chicago Fire Inspired Dog Names

Nip was a veteran fire dog on Brooklyn’s Engine Company Number 203 in Brooklyn, New York in 1936. He won four different medals of honor for being a hero from the New York Anti-Vivisection Society, Dog’s World International, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the New York Women’s League for Animals. During his time with the Brooklyn 203 firehouse, Nip went on every call with the company no matter whether it was a fire, vehicle accident, or just a wellness check. 

This brave mixed breed pooch was always the first one to jump off the truck and run in the building to look for victims when the squad went to a fire, and he would bark when he found a victim, not stopping until the firefighters got to him and got the victims. But there was one save that was more memorable than others. Not a call that saved a mother, father, or child, but a call where Nip saved the family cat, and he did not even like cats!

On the 10th of November in 1936, a fire started in the basement of a four-story apartment building on Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights, New York. It spread quickly through the shaft of the dumb-waiter. There were 10 people in the building at the time and on their way out, one of these people, a 16-year-old boy named John Bermudez, saw someone’s pet cat running up towards the fire and he ran after it to try to save the furbaby. 

When the firefighters of Engine 203 got to the building, they found John unconscious, and they took him to the ambulance where they tried unsuccessfully to save the boy. As the firefighters were returning to check the rest of the building, Nip ran out the door with the cat in his mouth; a bit singed but not hurt. The hero pooch had also recently saved a litter of kittens from a burning store in town. 

This amazing black and tan dawg started out as a stray in 1929 when someone from Engine Company Number 203 took him in, and he served with them for 10 years. He was such a smart pooch that he was even able to recognize the various signals, bells, and alarms of the firehouse. Strangely enough, Nip did not die in a fire but was hit by a car while playing in front of the firehouse on November 9, 1939. He was 16 years old.