Michael Hingson has been blind since birth, and that means he's relied on a lot of guide dogs.
These trained service animals are important tools that help the blind navigate our world, but they're also just like any other dogs. They have their own personalities, and while some are serious, others are silly. When Hingson was given his fifth guide dog, he asked for a partner "who could focus." And that's just what he got.
His guide dog Roselle was with him on that fateful day in 2001, when terrorists crashed a pair of airplanes into the World Trade Center. Hingson was a sales manager for Quantum, and he was having a quiet day in his office on the 78th floor until he heard the crash.
"I heard a tremendous boom," he remembers, "and the building started to shudder violently, before slowly tipping, leaning over 20 feet." By the time it leaned back in place people were screaming and panicking.
Hingson's coworkers realized there was a fire above, and there was debris falling into the office. "I had always paid attention to fire drills," Hingson said, "and I knew to avoid the elevators, take the stairs and not to panic." He told the rest of his office what to do, and in minutes they were heading downstairs.
During the next hour, Roselle proved just how well she could focus....
The plane had struck Tower 1 about 15 levels below Hingson's floor, so conditions only got worse as he and Roselle walked down stairwell B.
While people were panicking and worrying they wouldn't make it out alive, Hingson remembers that Roselle "sat next to me as calm as ever," and he even let his coworkers pet Roselle to help them calm down.
As they passed floors where the fire was spreading, burn victims were rushed down the stairwell. Other people's descriptions of these men and women terrified Hingson, but he had to stay calm so Roselle could do her job.
Walking for more than an hour nonstop, Roselle guided Hingson and dozens of his coworkers down almost 1,500 steps to safety. At one point the group worried that the building's lights would go out. But Hingson just told them "not to worry, Roselle and I would lead the way."
By the time they reached the lower levels, the stairs were slippery with water from the building's sprinkler system, and exhausted workers were falling on the stairs, but Roselle stayed steady the entire way.
But when Roselle and Hingson reached the exit, their ordeal wasn't over...
When Hingson finally reached the ground floor he tried to call his wife, but the huge number of calls from the two buildings was jamming service.
Then, he heard a policeman shouting something that is still burned in his mind today: "get away, she's coming down!" Building 2 was collapsing, showering Hingson and his coworkers with a cloud of gravel and dust so thick he couldn't breathe.
"I heard the sound of glass breaking, of metal twisting, and terrified screams. I will never forget the sound as long as I live," he remembers. "While everyone ran in panic, Roselle remained totally focused on her job, while debris fell around us, and even hit us, Roselle stayed
He says that she guided him away from Ground Zero "perfectly," then lead him to safety in a nearby subway tunnel. When the pair finally got home, Roselle started playing with Hingson's other dog Linnie, as if nothing had happened.
After Hingson shared his incredible story of survival, Roselle was showered with awards including the Ace Service Dog of the Year award and the American Hero Dog of the Year. Sadly, Roselle passed away from a stomach ulcer in 2006, but she's remembered in the name of Hingson's charity, the Roselle's Dream Foundation.
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[H/T: Express]
