Family dog credited with alerting owners to early morning blaze

By Herald on May 30, 2021.

Firefighters work to contain a garage fire early Sunday monring. Herald photo by Dale Woodard.

Dale Woodard – Lethbridge Herald
A family pet is being hailed a hero following a garage fire early Sunday morning.
Shortly after 4 a.m., 21 fire fighters from three stations — Stations One, Two and Three — attended a garage fire in the 600 block of 5th Street South.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire where there were three vehicles and a trailer also damaged as a result. There were no injuries reported and adjacent homeowners were safely evacuated.
However, home and garage owner Kelly Reid credits his five-year-old Chinese shar-pei, Smidge, for alerting his wife Anna and their son of the early morning blaze.
“My wife and I went to bed and at about four in the morning my wife woke me up and said ‘We have a fire,’” said Reid. “I guess Smidge woke her up with a different bark. She barks a lot at whoever walks by, but this is bark she has never heard. She was all panicky and scared. She looked out and saw our car and garage was on fire and woke me.”
Looking out the window, Reid said the flames were about 10 feet high.
He immediately grabbed his phone and a garden hose to try and battle the blaze.
“By the time I got outside the flames were about 20 feet high, maybe,” said Reid. “So I dropped the hose and tried to dial 911. I kept misdialing because I didn’t have my glasses on.”
Reid said the fire department was on the scene “within four or five minutes.”
Cody Gundlock, deputy chief operations Lethbridge Fire and EMS said the fire was contained to the garage and two vehicles.
“There were some power lines above, but it had no extension to any of the buldings on either side of it and no injuries to any firefighters or cilivians. The main thing is there are no injuries.”
The neighbouring houses were also spared.
“We had to protect the exposures on each side and the guys did a really good job,” said Gundlock.
Unfortunately, Reid’s van was a casualty in the blaze.
“I don’t think they can fix one, I’ll upgrade to a truck. I was thinking about it this year, anyway,” said Reid, who nonetheless looked at the big picture.
“Everybody got out,” he said. “The houses weren’t affected, just the garage and the vehicles and that’s OK. My wife and son are OK. Our dogs are OK and the neighbours are fine. That’s the important thing.”
As for Smidge, Reid said the family pet will be rewarded for her early-morning heads up to the rest of the family.
“She’s our little hero. She gets steak and rice for the rest of every night for the rest of the week.”
There is approximately $50,000.00 worth of damage upon initial estimate. The cause of the blaze still under investigation.
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