Blaze damages house; pet dies
09/29/01
By KEVIN SHEA
Staff Writer, Trenton Times: http://www.nj.com
WEST WINDSOR -- A fire that may have been burning for almost an hour before it
was discovered badly damaged the interior of a Van Wyck Drive home yesterday
afternoon, killing the family's dog despite several attempts to save the pet by
two men who were working next door.
The residents were not home and no firefighters were injured battling the 12:55
p.m. fire, officials said. The fire apparently was caused by the Johnson
family's kitchen stove.
Sean Miller and Andrew Beetle, both of Audubon, were constructing a wood shed in
a neighbor's backy ard when they saw thick black smoke escaping from a rear
window.
After yelling to a neighbor to dial 911, the pair kicked in the front and back
doors of the two-story white house with black shutters and started breaking
windows, they said.
When they heard a dog barking, Miller tried several times to get to the pet.
"I was down on my belly, choking my head off," Miller said. "We
tried calling the dog."
But Miller and Beetle said the dog, which they believed was confined to a room,
never followed their voices out. Seconds later, it was silent.
"We heard its last yelp. That (was not good)," said Miller, who was
visibly upset that he could not reach the dog.
Miller owns SEM Construction Co. and brings his dog to every job, he said.
When they realized their rescue was futile -- Miller could see flames inside the
windows and said the smoke was hovering only a foot above the floor -- Miller
and Beetle shot a garden hose into a back window.
Miller said he's no hero, and figured the residents were not home. "Just a
dog lover," he said.
But Mary Ann and John Doran, who live across the street from the Johnsons, say
Miller and Beetle did all they could. "They were just running all over the
place. (Miller) was very angry he could not get the dog." said Mary Ann
Doran. "There was just a heck of a lot of smoke," said John Doran.
James Yates, Director of Emergency Services for the township, who directed
firefighters at the scene, said flames gutted the home's kitchen and spread to
several other first floor rooms before it was extinguished.
Yates, who is also the township fire marshal, said the fire is not suspicious
because the house was locked and the residents were not home. The Washington
Township Fire Department as well as East Windsor Fire Company #1 responded to
this incident.