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Firefighter rescues 'trembling' baby deer from Florida Keys wildfire

Monroe County BOCC
Monroe County BOCC

A baby deer was rescued from a blaze in the Florida Keys by a firefighter who jumped into the flames to save it.

Jen Shockley Brack risked her life to help the endangered Key deer fawn when she saw it running for its life.

“I wasn’t scared. I saw his big eyes and he was so scared and trembling, I just had to get him,” she told ABC News.

The baby deer’s mother was not found after the fire.

Ms Shockley Brack, a firefighter of Monroe Country Fire Rescue, saw the young spotted fawn while responding to a fire at Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys.

The heroic firefighter with the fawn (Monroe County BOCC)
The heroic firefighter with the fawn (Monroe County BOCC)

Flames tore through woodland after it was sparked on Saturday.

She added: “I saw this little guy run out and he was terrified. He was scared to death and his little legs were shaking.”

“I think he knew I was there to help him."

She scooped him up from the burning bush but claims to have singed her eyelashes as they both escaped the flames.

The uninjured deer was given oxygen, water and wrapped in a sheet.

He was kept inside a Monroe County Fire Rescue truck until the fire was under control and was released back into the wild on Monday.

Monroe County Public Information Officer Cammy Clark said finding a fawn without its mother in sight is a “unique situation”.

While wildfires are natural to the ecosystem in the Florida Keys.

This year's blaze was made worst by damage caused by last year's devastating Hurricane Irma.

Ms Shockley Brack said that the hurricane knocked down many trees which provided more fuel for the fire.