Fort Worth firefighters keep dog left at safe baby site and help former owner

Fort Worth, Texas — Fire Station 8 in Fort Worth is designated a safe baby site, a place where parents who cannot care for an infant can leave the child.

Earlier this month, someone left a dog named Jake at the base of the station flagpole. A note with the dog read, "His name is Jake…If you really care about helping babies, please help my baby."

"You could tell he's been loved," Fort Worth Fire Capt. Jason Bryant told CBS News. "Super healthy, super strong. You can tell he hadn't missed a meal."

Jake had lived with a homeless man named Tom Miner. Miner lost housing a couple of years ago after his landlord said he could not keep the dog. Miner decided to surrender Jake because he believed the dog deserved a better life.

"I live with that every day," Miner said. "It is, hands down, the hardest decision I ever made."

Miner said he ran from the station after leaving Jake because he "couldn't look back."

The firefighters decided to keep Jake. The department also persuaded a local business to donate a camper to Miner.

"This is my home," Miner said of the camper. "And there ain't no place like home."

The fire department supplied Miner with other items and arranged a dental appointment as part of efforts to help him regain stability. Firefighters said they intend to return Jake to Miner once he has permanent housing.

"One day he's coming home," Miner said.

The department said the case was a one-time exception and that the public cannot drop off dogs at fire stations.

"If we can hand Jake back over to Tom, I think that's the happy ending everybody wants," Bryant said. "I think there'll be 30 grown men bawling."