TONAWANDA, N.Y. — ​It's a reunion that might never have happened if not for the quick work of Town of Tonawanda Police Officer and 2020 American Red Cross Animal Rescue Real Hero Jacob McCormick.

"I was just sobbing, thinking, 'he didn't get out. He didn't get out,' " Sarah Hurtley of Tonawanda said of a fire at her home.

”When she said there were dogs inside, it was really a no-brainer. You don't even think about it. You're able to go in; you just go in," McCormick said.

Sarah and her husband got out of their burning home safely, but her two dogs Joy and Harry were still inside.

"I tried to come back in to get the beagle. But I got to the stairs and the upstairs took the brunt of this fire terrible. And I couldn't, and I was just sobbing,” Hurtley said.

"I have two dogs as well, and they're part of the family. So you treat them as part of your family. I'd hate for that to happen to my dogs,” McCormick said.

That’s when McCormick rushed in quickly, finding Joy in the backyard and bringing her to rescue crews out front. But the search for Harry was much more challenging.

“This is as far as I came. When I got up to this area, you could see the fire well throughout the front of the house, as well as smoke, so I didn't feel like it was safe to come any further than this. It was very hard to see. The fire department was in here as well, and we located the dog in this area, thankfully,” McCormick explained.

He rushed a nervous and lethargic Harry to the paramedics next door to give the pup some oxygen.

"I had no idea that Officer McCormick was even looking for the beagle. I had no idea. It was wonderful when he came to me and said he survived. It was unbelievable," Hurtley said.

And today, the entire family is alive and well thanks to McCormick's quick and brave actions.

"That was a wonderful thing. He's a marvelous officer," she added.