A Long Beach firefighter carries a dog to safety after an apartment fire in Downtown Long Beach on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. Photo courtesy the Long Beach Fire Department.

Firefighters rescued a small dog from a kitchen fire in Downtown Long Beach Saturday evening.

Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Jack Crabtree said the blaze broke out around 5:30 p.m. in a ground-floor apartment on Fourth Street near Cedar Avenue.

The flames were contained to the kitchen, but while crews were navigating the smoke that filled the unit, they found a small dog whom they were able to get out unharmed, Crabtree said.

Nobody was home, so after they doused the blaze, firefighters left the dog with a neighbor who offered to care for it until the owner returned.

The blaze was put out quickly and nobody was hurt, Crabtree said.

Jeremiah Dobruck is executive editor of the Long Beach Post where he oversees all day-to-day newsroom operations. In his time working as a journalist in Long Beach, he’s won numerous awards for his investigative reporting and editing. Before coming to the Post in 2018, he wrote for publications including the Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.