What would you do for your dog?

That poor man could have just waited it out. My dogs used to get out and run like stink but they always came home. It's difficult to imagine running after a dog in that situation, and like teamfour mentioned, the dog knows what it can do and what it can't. As an aside, every firefighter knows--or should know--that proper protective equipment (in this case, shoes) will help them help others. If I didn't know better I'd question the validity of certain parts of this story but will not out of respect.