Firefighter mauled to death by adopted 140 lb mastiff www.privateofficer.com

To contact us Click HERE

Kane County IL Nov 192012 A far west suburban firefighter was mauled to death in her home by a130- to 140-pound dog she and her husband had just taken in to avoid it beingput down, authorities said.Dawn Brown, a firefighter with the Bristol-Kendall FireDepartment and a paramedic with the Big Rock Fire District, was found dead atthe bottom of the basement stairs in her Big Rock home Monday afternoon.The Kane County sheriff’sdepartment revealed Tuesday that Brown hadn’t fallen. Her mastiff — one ofthree dogs in the home — killed her.After authorities arrived, it took four officers to get themastiff under control to remove it from the house, Kane County Sheriff’s Lt.Pat Gengler said.The dog was “all muscle, very intimidating” but had nohistory of being aggressive, he said.Brown and her husband, Bob, took the dog in a week ago, saidDawn Brown’s co-worker, Lt. David Denison of the Big Rock Fire District“Dawn is — or was — very mother-like. She was just alwaystaking care of everybody. That’s just the way she was. Rather than seeing thisdog get put down, she took it on from another family member this week,” Denison said.“They were just trying to introduce the new dog into thefold.”Police said the Browns also had a boxer and a pit bull mixedbreed. But the wounds she suffered were caused by the mastiff, police said.Kane County Animal Control has taken custody of all threedogs. A decision on the fate of the dogs hasn’t been made, although Genglernoted about the two dogs that didn’t attack: “a lot of it will fall back on herhusband to see what he wants.”“The other two they’ve had longer,” Gengler said. “The othertwo were like their children.”Gengler said it is clear that only the mastiff attackedBrown. Bite marks were visible on the body, he said.“There’s a huge difference in the size of these dogs, ahumongous difference,” Gengler said.Gengler said Brown’s colleagues were on the first on thescene, and it’s an “extremely difficult, extremely trying time” for the twodepartments.Brown’s husband is also a part-time firefighter with the BigRock department. The couple had no children.“Bob is with family and friends, he’s taking it very hard,” Denison said.Big Rock Fire Chief John Ruh said Brown brought the dog intothe fire station last Friday, three days before the attack.“I came into the station and Dawn had the dog with her ather desk,” Ruh recalled. “I didn’t like having a dog in the station, but I knewDawn was trying to socialize it, so I didn’t say anything about it. Maybe Ishould have.”Rich Dunlap, a Big Rock firefighter and EMT who also workedwith Brown in the Chicago Fire Department years ago, called her “one of themost caring, selfless people around.”“She was always happy to help people out. This is truly atragic loss for our community.”
Source-Chicago Sun Times