A homeless United States Army veteran in Fort Worth, Texas left his pitbull tied to a flagpole at a local fire station with a multi-page handwritten letter asking the firefighters to take care of him. The firefighters did exactly that. They also went looking for the man who had written the letter.
According to CBS News Texas, the dog was a 7-year-old pitbull named Jake. The man was Tom Miner, a 65-year-old disabled veteran who had been living with Jake in a homeless camp for nearly two years. Miner, the letter said, could no longer care for Jake while trying to get his own life back together.
Miner chose Fort Worth Fire Station 8 because of a “Safe Baby Site” sign posted at the doors. He had walked past the sign every day for 20 months, he said, and each time he thought of the dog he called his baby. On May 16, he tied Jake to the station’s flagpole, left a water bottle, and walked away.
What followed was a search for somebody to take Jake in, a department effort to find the man who had given him up, and an RV in East Fort Worth that didn’t exist when the veteran walked away from the fire station. Jake has a home now. So does Miner.
What the Letter Said
When firefighters found a dog left at their station with a note pleading, “Please help my baby,” they set out to find the owner. What happened next proved that sometimes the hardest act of love can lead to the happiest ending. @SteveHartmanCBS is On the Road in Texas. pic.twitter.com/cOtzb6x0jL
— CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil (@CBSEveningNews) May 30, 2026
The handwritten letter Miner left at Station 8 ran several pages. In it, Miner explained that he could no longer care for Jake while trying to get his own life back together, as he was homeless. He described giving the dog up as the hardest decision he had ever made. The letter told the firefighters that Jake had been raised to love everyone and that he was nothing but love, and asked them to help his baby.
Jake was discovered chained to the flagpole at Fort Worth Fire Station 8 on May 16, with the water bottle and the letter beside him. Firefighters and their spouses initially tried to place Jake in another home, CBS News Texas reported.
When that didn’t work, the Station 8 crew adopted Jake themselves. CBS News Texas video of the firehouse shows Jake settling in to his new life: sleeping in a dog bed, walking through the station, playing with a tennis ball,and wearing a red bandana with the department’s logo on it.
Why Miner Was Homeless
CBS News Texas reported that Miner is a 65-year-old disabled veteran who had been living with Jake in a homeless camp for close to two years before leaving the dog at the station. He said he lost his apartment after a property manager declined to renew his lease because Jake was a pit bull. Rather than give Jake up at that point, Miner had stayed outside with him.
The Fort Worth Fire Department’s HOPE Team, short for Home Outreach Prevention and Education, searched for Miner after Jake was found at the station and located him in a homeless camp. The team connected him with healthcare and with Operation Texas Strong, a nonprofit that supports veterans and people in crisis. Operation Texas Strong then gave Miner an RV valued at $11,000 and helped arrange a spot for him at an RV park in East Fort Worth.
Miner told CBS News Texas that the RV represented a fresh start, and that he hoped the story might eventually come full circle with Jake. Fort Worth fire officials, for their part, have said they would like to see that happen as well if Miner is ready and able to take the dog back.