Dog helps alert couple to blaze
Published: May 31, 2005
Amy Darnell was standing in the front yard of her burned home near Old Bardstown Road yesterday when neighbors arrived with cash and checks totaling $1,540.
They had collected it door to door after an early morning fire severely damaged the house at 10707 Bardstown Woods Blvd., off Old Bardstown Road south of Fern Creek. The fire caused an upstairs room to collapse into the garage, and the house was partially boarded up afterward.
The family dog, Maggie, is credited with waking up Darnell and her fiancé, David Romine, allowing them to escape from the house. Darnell’s wedding dress was saved “and we got the rings out,” she said, referring to rings for the wedding they are planning in September.
Smoke detectors went off, but only after the dog began barking, said Fern Creek Assistant Fire Chief Dewayne Hutchens. “Animals do wonderful things sometimes,” he said.
All four Fern Creek fire stations and the Highview Fire Department responded to the call, which came in about 6:50 a.m., Hutchens said. Firefighters brought the blaze brought under control in a little more than an hour, he said.
No firefighters were injured, although two were in the upstairs room when it collapsed, Hutchens said. He said the house was less than 5 years old.
The fire appeared to be of electrical origin but the exact cause was still undetermined, he said.
Darnell was standing amid possessions piled in the yard and began crying upon receiving the check.
“It could have been us; it could have been anyone in the neighborhood,” said one of her neighbors, Teresa Wilcher.
Her husband, Joe Wilcher, said he was the first one over to the house after he heard a commotion and saw the flames. “I wanted to make sure everyone was out,” he said.
Carol Edelen, another neighbor, said Darnell was calling for help, and Romine was trying to get the garden hose out. They and the neighbors stood and watched the house burn. “It was just horrible,” Edelen said.
The occupants were able to salvage a lot of the contents, “but the house is going to need some major repair,” Hutchens said. Several rows of siding on a house next door were melted.
Asked if she thought her house could be rebuilt, Darnell said, “I don’t think so.”
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