Gabby Bannon fell in love with a dog named Rusty they rescued from Hurricane Helene, but she never imagined that Rusty would end up saving their lives, writes Dawn Timmeney for Fox 29 News.

Gabby and her husband had dropped off pet food and other necessities to the LaMancha Animal Rescue in North Carolina and returned home with 35 shelter dogs to find them Pennsylvania homes as a way to help victims of Hurricane Helene.

Among the 35 was Rusty, a 3-year-old pup who ended up being permanently adopted by the Bannon family.

“I took him out of his crate and there was something special about him,” Gabby explained.

Two weeks later, Gabby, her two-year-old son Michael and six-month old baby Wesley were napping in a second-floor bedroom when Rusty started barking and pacing, tugging at Gabby’s sleeve.

“When I opened my bedroom door, smoke filled the hallway.”

They all quickly made an escape outside, now safe from a small kitchen fire.

“Potentially we could have been trapped upstairs,” Gabby said. “It’s almost as if he was meant to come into our lives and meant to be there to save us.”

Read more about Rusty and his new-found Eddystone family at Fox 29 News.