Dog alerts Watertown resident of structure fire

By Adam Tobias of the Daily Times staff
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 12:14 PM CDT

It turns out that dogs really are a man's best friend.

A man who was sleeping when a fire broke out Tuesday in the kitchen of a home located at 419 S. Washington St. was awoken and notified of the blaze by his dog, according to Watertown Fire Chief Henry Butts.

“There was one person inside the home and he told me his dog woke him up,” Butts said. “There were working smoke detectors in the home, but the man said he fell asleep on the couch and the dog woke him up and alerted him to the fire.”

The fire department was notified of the structure fire at 1:09 p.m. and arrived at the scene at 1:12 p.m.

“We arrived to find a two-story brick house with smoke showing from the rear of the house,” Butts said. “Investigation showed a heavy fire in the kitchen area.”

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Firefighters started attacking the fire at 1:15 p.m. and were able to have the flames under control at 1:16 p.m. The blaze was extinguished at 1:55 p.m. Butts said 14 firefighters helped extinguish the blaze.

The fire was contained to the kitchen area and damages are estimated at $20,000, Butts said.

Butts said the blaze in the kitchen was caused by boiling water igniting tea bags.

“He was boiling tea actually on the stove and when he fell asleep the water boiled out and then the tea bags caught on fire,” Butts added.

Butts said the resident was outside of the home when the fire department arrived at the scene.

No injuries were reported.