When Firefighter William Lindler of the Hanahan Fire Department in South Carolina found Jake the pit bull puppy, things weren't look good. Lindler told ABC News he rescued Jake from a "badly burning shed" outside a family's house in Charleston last April:

"I literally found Jake in the last place you could see before the smoke became pitch black and was too dark to navigate through," Lindler said. "He wasn't doing too good, and I gave him mouth-to-snout breaths until we could get an oxygen mask for him."

At the time, Jake was only three weeks old. He was brought to an emergency vet hospital, where the prognosis was grim because of the severity of his burns, and his family gave him up because they couldn't afford treament. When Lindler learned this, he immediately adopted him, and the difficult road to recovery began. Lindler explained that while Jake was treated with antibiotics and morphine for over a month, vet staff would "have to scrub dead skin off him everyday" and that Jake had to undergo laser skin therapy.

The entire recovery took about four months, but finally, aside from requiring sunscreen on his scars on beach days, Jake was well enough to finally get to work and earn his keep. That is, he was sworn in as on honorary firefigther (but REAL mascot) for the very fire department who saved him. 

You can check out photos of Jake's injuries and recovery here, and if you'd like to be a fan of Jake and follow his heroics, he has his on Facebook page.