somerville dog: a weblog

Hero dog alerts owner to fire
By Erin Dower/ Journal Staff
Thursday, June 9, 2005

Minnie James is a "big sleeper."

So Frances Marshman, the owner of the 2-year-old Goldendoodle (a hybrid golden retriever/poodle), said she was surprised when Minnie stirred about 2:45 a.m. on Tuesday, May 31.

"She woke me up and kept barking, barking, barking," Marshman said. "I was not happy."

But the residents of 157 College Ave. should be pleased Minnie made a racket. The College Avenue home, located diagonally across Marshman's backyard on Bromfield Road, was on fire. Marshman got up, saw flashes of light in her back door, discovered the fire and placed the first 911 call for help.

Marshman said she was groggy when she got out of bed, so when she saw the light shining intermittently into the back of her house, she thought it might be a burglar's flashlight. She quickly discovered the flashes came from flames climbing vertically at the back of 157 College Ave. and called to report the fire.

"Then I stood there with my heart pounding," she said.

Firefighters reached the three-story home within a few minutes, and eight crews from Somerville and additional engines from Medford and Cambridge battled the fire for about two hours. No one was hurt in the blaze, but it caused more than $500,000 worth of damage, firefighters said.

The fire remains under investigation. But firefighters reported the probable cause was a barbecue that Tufts students, who were upstairs residents, left unattended on the rear deck after they grilled food on Monday, which was Memorial Day.

Eugene Weinstein, a resident of the first floor, said he did not attend the afternoon barbecue and was not aware of the resulting fire for a while. He said he awoke early Tuesday morning to the sound of glass shattering and, like Marshman, thought his home was the target of a burglar.

When he called 911 to report the suspected burglary, dispatchers told him his house was on fire, which a neighbor (Marshman) had already reported. Weinstein said he had to jump out his window to escape because his bedroom filled with black smoke when he opened his door.

Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher said some pets make noise when they discover a fire, while others get scared and hide under furniture. Luckily, Minnie clamored, he said.

"It's a good story," he said. "It's man's best friend doing the right thing."

People's safest bet is still to own a functioning smoke detector, but an alert dog can be helpful, too, Kelleher said.

"That few minutes makes all the difference in a fire," he said.

Marshman said the incident was Minnie's first potentially life-saving experience, but she's not surprised at what her friendly, long-lashed dog did.

"She's just a good girl," Marshman said.