Video: Wis. Officer Rushes Inside Burning Home, Saves Dog

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Body cam video of a police officer in western Wisconsin running inside a burning house over the weekend is going viral.

The Chippewa Falls Police Department posted the video on its Facebook page on Monday morning. By the afternoon, the video had more than 16,000 likes and 600 shares.

The video shows dash cam and body cam video of officer Craig Mantzke responding to a house fire Friday night in Tilden, which is a few miles northwest of Chippewa Falls.

The video shows Mantzke's squad car pulling up on 124th Street to a house that is "fully engulfed" in flames.

Mantzke immediately runs inside, braving smoke and flames, to see if anyone was in the burning home.

While it's not seen on the video, the family dog was able to escape the fire when Mantzke opened the door, police say.

The family wasn't home when the fire started.

At approximately 8:04 PM on Friday, October 30th, officers from the Chippewa Falls Police Department responded to a report of a structure fire on 124th St, in the township of Tilden. Officer Craig Mantzke was first to arrive on scene and bravely entered the residence, which was fully engulfed in flames. Officer Mantzke forced his way inside, searching for people through the smoke and flames. Below is a composite video of this event, from the squad car dash cam as well as the officer's body cam. Fortunately, no one was home at the time of this fire. Because of Officer Mantzke's brave actions, the family's dog, who was trapped inside the residence, was able to escape.
Posted by Chippewa Falls Police Department on Monday, November 2, 2015

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