CORNER BROOK — No one was home when a residence on Happy Valley Road caught fire Friday morning, but a pet dog in the house at the time did not survive.
The young couple who lived there were both at work when they were notified of the mid-morning fire.
Neither one of them wanted to do an interview at the scene, but they thanked members of the Corner Brook Fire Department for doing what they could to save the house and the dog.
Capt. Brian Carroll of the fire department said firefighters were informed there was a pet inside when they arrived. He said the dog was located but, unfortunately, it could not be saved.
“When we got here, there was a lot of fire and heavy smoke coming from the basement,” said Carroll. “I sent a crew into the basement to fight the fire and I sent a rescue team upstairs to try and save the dog. We got the dog out, but it needed to be resuscitated. We tried, but it didn’t work.”
The house was extensively damaged in the blaze. Carroll said it seemed to have started in the basement, then spread into the walls.
Damage to the exterior wall of the house was evidence of the effort to extinguish the fire inside.
The Canadian Red Cross has stepped in to assist the couple with purchases of clothes, groceries and personal-care items. The two are staying with relatives while insurance adjusters assess the damage and repairs, the Red Cross said Friday in a news release.
Carroll said it only took four or five minutes to knock the fire down, but his crew was on the scene for a couple of hours scanning the house for hot spots that might flare up.
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was holding the scene throughout the rest of the day Friday until its fire investigator could examine the house today to try to determine the cause.
