Dog saves family of three from fatal fire
PA Hamilton A nine-month-old golden Labrador saved its pregnant owner, her husband and their two-year-old child from a Hamilton house fire which killed two people early yesterday, according to a neighbour. Witnesses said the young woman, Ms Tania Coombes, and her daughter escaped the Forest Lake Road home through a window with just a bedspread. Her husband also escaped but the dog died in the 1 a.m. blaze. Two men died before they could escape from the house. They were Rodney Mervin Knuth, aged 25, and Terence Henry Donaldson, aged 23, both of Hamilton.
A neighbour, Mrs Ouida Mills, said the young woman was woken by her dog, Chevy, and she tried unsuccessfully to wake one of the men who died in the blaze.
“As she got out she saw this guy lying on the couch in the lounge. She tried to wake him up and she just jumped out with her baby.” Mrs Mills said Ms Coombes’s husband woke her and asked her to call the Fire Service. She said he knew there were two other men in the burning house but
bystanders could not help. “He was screaming that they were inside but there was nothing much we could do. It was well alight. We knew they were in there but we couldn’t do anything. “It was all just shooting out the side, this big mass of flames.” Mrs Mills said Ms Coombes had only a continental quilt wrapped around her and her husband escaped the fire wearing just a pair of jeans. When she first saw the fire it was already well under way. “All the kitchen was already on fire and the car there was already on fire. The flames were just so big.” Fire Service Station Officer Chris Lee said the dead men were asleep in the lounge at the time of the fire, which gutted the kitchen and dining-room and severely smoke-damaged the rest of the house.
“The lounge was a disaster area — it was a mess,” Mr Lee said. Fire safety officers were investigating the fire yesterday, but it was not believed to be suspicious.
Mr Lee said two appliances attended the blaze and fire-fighters had it under control in 15 minutes.
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Press, 28 December 1989, Page 3
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377Dog saves family of three from fatal fire Press, 28 December 1989, Page 3
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