Four people escaped harm Wednesday morning when the house they were sleeping in caught fire. It was just after 6 a.m. Wednesday when a man passing by the Denver home noticed smoke.
“He saw that something didn’t look quite right, that the chimney was giving off way too much smoke,” said Dion Burleson, Denver Fire Department spokesman.
The man, who happens to be a Charlotte firefighter, noticed smoke coming from around the chimney and the roof of the Pine Ridge Drive home. He began banging on the front door of the house and successfully woke up four adults who were sleeping inside. Four dogs were also inside the home.
Firefighters from the Denver Fire Department arrived within six minutes of getting the call, according to Burleson. All four dogs were rescued from the home, but two were critically injured and died a short time later.
The fire has been ruled accidental, but the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation. Due to road conditions, the Fire Department had beefed up its staff at all three stations, Burleson said.
Getting to the fire was treacherous given the icy roads, but the department still made good time and had the fire out quickly, said Burleson. The man who alerted the sleeping people told Burleson that he didn’t want praise, that he did what anyone else would have done.
“The people in the house were very grateful to him,” Burleson said.
You can reach Diane Turbyfill at 704-869-1817 and twitter.com/GazetteDiane.