Sparkles the Fire-Safety Dog, one of the stars of PBS Kids’ Sprout, passed away Monday evening at the age of 12, said her owner and fire-safety educator Dayna Hilton.

In May 2003, Hilton adopted the Dalmatian after it was rescued from a home with 62 other dogs of different breeds. “The rescuers shared that the conditions in the house were indescribable, but that when Sparkles was brought out, she was wagging her tail and wasn’t traumatized as bad as the other dogs,” Hilton said.

Hilton, who had started working in public-safety education a year earlier, had no intention of using the Dalmatian as part of her program. One evening, Hilton wondered if she could get Sparkles to “crawl low,” which the dog quickly did. In October 2003, Sparkles made her debut with a fire-safety program in a local school.

Since that time, Hilton developed a fire-safety education program with Sparkles, which was picked up by Sprout. Hilton wrote a fire-safety children’s book, launched a Web site and wrote a blog based on the dog, and the two made regular appearances at fire shows across their home state of Arkansas and at national conferences.

Hilton still has two other Dalmatians, a recently acquired a puppy named Siren and 9-year-old Tango. While the two remaining Dalmatians have Sparkles big paw prints to fill, Hilton is confident that Sparkles helped teach millions of children about fire safety.

“Sparkles was meant to be a fire safety dog,” said Hilton. “There’s nothing she loved more than going to a school to be with the kids.”

A Sparkles coloring book was recently created and Hilton indicated that Sparkles’ work may not be over. “There’s talk of bringing Sparkles back to life through animation,” Hilton said.

Sparkles work will continue through Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation.