Dogs alert sleeping woman of house fire

Firefighters battle the flames of a house fire outside of Cloverdale early Friday morning. The home was deemed a total loss due to extensive damage. However, dogs inside the home alerted a sleeping woman of the fire and no one was injured.

Courtesy photo

CLOVERDALE -- No one was injured in an early-morning fire outside Cloverdale Friday and man's best friend is partly to thank.

Homeowner Phillip Iverson was not home at the time, but a female family member was asleep inside the 4728 E. CR 1000 South residence. Cloverdale Fire Chief Kerry Shepherd credited dogs with waking her and likely saving her life in the process.

Shepherd said flames were already through the roof by the time the Cloverdale Township Volunteer Fire Department got the call at 1:15 p.m.

Courtesy photo

Calls for tankers soon went out to other departments, including Greencastle, Jefferson Township, Cataract, Poland and Reelsville. The home is not far outside of Cloverdale but a bit beyond the reach of the town's fire hydrants.

Despite firefighters' best efforts, the house was deemed a total loss due to extensive damage on the second floor.

With dogs likely to have saved a human, firefighters returned the favor, rescuing a couple of canine residents after about 90 minutes on the scene.

Fire personnel remained at the scene until shortly before 6 a.m.