It's like something out of a movie. A service dog vanished from a Tempe hotel room and days later, was found inside a burning home 10 miles away.
ABC15 spoke exclusively to Andrea Albornoz after the two were reunited. The pair are back together and happier than ever.
“Oh my God. Last night when I was like holding her, my soul came back to my body,” Albornoz said.
Lani disappeared from a Tempe hotel room and was seen for the first time several days later when she was being pulled from a burning home in Phoenix.
“Whoever had Lani, when the house caught on fire, they left her inside the house for Lani to die,” she said.
Firefighters rushed to the scene.
Matt Guzzardo, with Phoenix Fire, performed life-saving measures on the dog.
“He saved her life and he was putting an oxygen mask on her., and I cannot wait to just thank him in person,” said Albornoz.
So, ABC15 set up the reunion between Albornoz and Guzzardo.
“Can I give you a hug?” asked Albornoz.
“Sure of course,” responded Guzzardo.
“Thank you, you saved my dog’s life. She wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for you,” said Albornoz.
Guzzardo says Lani was in the back bedroom and was unconscious when they pulled her out.
“We gave her some oxygen with our Fido bags,” Guzzardo told ABC15.
He says she slowly began to breathe again.
Soon after ABC15 aired the story of the fire, Albornoz says a viewer showed Andrea this video through an app. She knew that dog was Lani right away.
“I knew that was Lani because that’s the alarm that she gives me. She puts her ears back when she detects danger,” said Albornoz.
She says this is what Lani does when she detects Albornoz is going to have a seizure.
“She’s a life-saving animal,” Albornoz told ABC15.
Albornoz says she went to the Phoenix Police Department as soon as she could and identified the dog.
“And they said, 'Okay… Give us a couple of hours.' And within an hour and a half, I had Lani. She was like, 'Mom, I can’t believe what we’ve been through.' She was just so emotional,” said Albornoz.
Lani is doing a lot better and only has a small burn on her leg and paw. She is expected to make a full recovery.
As the pair gets ready to head back to Los Angeles, Albornoz can’t help but be grateful.
“Thank you so much for saving her. I just will never have words. Thank you, honestly,” Albornoz told Guzzardo, in tears.
Tempe and Phoenix PD are looking into exactly what happened and who may have taken Lani.
