Retired firefighter and dog named Pumpkin save Bowie woman in fire Prince George's County Fire Department officials said that a retired firefighter and a black Labrador retriever named Pumpkin on Friday helped rescue a wheelchair bound woman, moments before her home was engulfed by fire. Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady said the woman, 36, was taken to a local hospital where she was listed in serious but stable condition. Brady said retired fire lieutenant Billy Mills was stopped for a traffic light at the intersection of 301 North and Mitchellville Road about 10 a.m. when he noticed black smoke billowing from the west. "I knew it was a house fire because house fires smell differently than brush fires," Mills said in an interview. He parked his car in the parking lot of a nearby church and headed toward the rear of a house in the 16300 block of Pond Meadow Lane. Firefighters from the Bowie Pointer Ridge Station #843 were approaching the house from the front at the same time. "I went around the side of the house, kicked the gate in and a black dog came charging at me," Mills said. He closed the gate and backed out. But Mills said he reached out his hand toward the dog. "He smelled it; I opened the gate," Mills said. He started jumping around and he took off toward the house. Mills said he looked inside a sliding glass door and spotted a woman on the floor. "I opened the door and got down on my knees," he said. I crawled to her and grabbed her by the coat and said we have to get out. The dog really clued me in. The two story single family home was gutted, officials said. By Friday evening, charred wheelchairs and medical equipment belonging to the woman could be seen among the debris. Mills said in his more than two decades in the department he had never rescued someone. "I was a career firefighter almost 21 years and it has started to settle in that I actually made a difference in someone's life," he said. But Mills wanted it known that he had help. "The dog was a huge part of why that lady is still here today," he said. They don't say dogs are man's best friends for nothing. Pumpkin was not injured, and has been taken to the Prince George's Animal Shelter.