Family dog found alive after house fire

A Springfield family of four was forced to find new living quarters Wednesday night when their home sustained devastating damage.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20140124/NEWS02/701249972/1003

Published January 24, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Family dog found alive after house fire By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — A Springfield family of four was forced to find new living quarters Wednesday night when their home sustained devastating damage. The fire — at the home of Robert Beebe and his family, located at 296 Brook Road — heavily damaged half the house and destroyed the home’s garage, breezeway and summer kitchen, said Fire Chief Russell Thompson. Thompson said the cause of the fire was unknown, but believed to be electrical in nature. He said firefighters from nine communities battled the blaze in sub-zero temperatures. The fire was first called in at 8:52 p.m. While the home was heavily damaged, he said firefighters were able to find the family’s dog in the house after the fire was almost out. Thompson said the dog, described as a small “Benji-type” dog, was hiding under a couch in one of the rooms that escaped fire damage. “There was a huge amount of destruction on the left-hand side of the house, but on the other side, there is just water and smoke damage,” he said. The chief said Beebe came up to him after the department had been fighting the fire for about an hour and a half and asked if anyone had seen his dog. The fire was being wet down at that point, Thompson said, and Beebe told firefighters where he thought the dog would be, and there it was, shivering. “He’s doing great,” the chief said, noting there had been “pretty intense smoke” in the area where he was found. The fire chief said the Beebe family was staying with neighbors at the moment. The chief said one firefighter was taken to Springfield Hospital as a precautionary measure. Thompson said the Beebe home was just outside of the Springfield fire hydrant district, so a tanker shuttle system was set up. Firefighters joining the Springfield crew included Bellows Falls, Westminster, West Weathersfield, Chester, Rockingham, Proctorsville and Charlestown, N.H.