Homeowner retrieves puppies suspected of starting shed fire
CENTER TWP — As firefighters extinguished the last of the flames that destroyed a shed behind his home on Brown Road on Friday afternoon, Duane Jones was looking for the suspected culprits in the woods adjacent to his property.
Jones said he suspected that the five puppies he kept in the shed started the fire by dislodging the cord of a heat lamp he used to keep the shed warm, causing the lamp to fall and ignite the fire.
“I had five puppies back there. I found two of them. Three are still missing,” Jones said.
Then, after hearing a faint bark coming from a valley in the adjacent property, he called out and one of the three pups climbed up the hill where Jones scooped it up, gave it hug and placed it in the cab of his truck.
He walked back into the valley, located the other two and carried them out one at a time as well.
Jones said he was at work, but quickly came home after his daughter called and told him about the fire. The fire was reported around 1:40 p.m.He said the shed was destroyed and some of the siding on his mobile home was damaged by heat, but no one and no puppies were injured.The shed was on fire and the wooden porch on the home was starting to burn when firefighters arrived, said Nathan Wulff, Unionville Volunteer Fire Company chief.“When we arrived, the shed was fully involved. The porch started to catch, but we got it in time,” Wulff said.He estimated the shed was 15 feet from the home.The Prospect and Butler Township volunteer fire departments also responded.
