Firefighters believe a candle left burning in the garage sparked the blaze, which started just after 5:30 a.m. When the flames began d spreading, Sadie, the family's 15-pound terrier mix, woke the family up with her incessant barking and all three family members got out safely. Unfortunately, another dog and cat did not make it out alive.
"Clearly, had that not happened -- I don't want to speculate on the exact time, but within a short span of time -- there could have a been a loss of life in this incident," said Gary Armstrong of the West Metro Fire Department.
The Lakewood house was badly damaged by the garage fire.
When firefighters arrived at the house, located in the 2300 block of Bell Court, they found the attached garage completely engulfed in 30-foot high flames. The fire was so hot that the house next door haf melted siding, 7NEWS reported.It took firefighters 10 minutes to bring the fire under control and about an hour before the fire was completely extinguished. The garage was destroyed and the home suffered extensive damage.The family said even though they had smoke detectors, they didn't hear the alarms and that's why they are grateful for the big actions of Sadie in waking them up."I'm really pretty blessed," said Dave Thorn. "My family is OK and that's what matters to me. All the material things (are) irrelevant."
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Man Says Dog Alerted Family In House Fire
