Gluckstadt firefighters rescue dogs from house fire

GLUCKSTADT — Two dogs are lucky to be alive after firefighters rescued them from a kitchen fire last Saturday.

Gluckstadt Fire Marshal Dustin Perry said firefighters responded to a 9:59 a.m. report of a house fire in the Wellington subdivision to find heavy smoke billowing out of the front door.

“I don’t know if there were any active flames when they arrived,” Perry said. 

The owners were not at home at the time of the fire. However, dispatchers advised firefighters that two dogs were believed to be in the house.

“We had two engines there so we had two separate crews,” Perry said. “We had one crew that concentrated on the rescue operations and we had another crew that simultaneously concentrated on the fire so they actually went at it at the same time.”

Perry said the operation went smoothly and firefighters had the fire under control within 10 minutes of arriving. 

As one crew was battling the blaze, the other crew located the two dogs, Luna, a 1-and-a-half-year-old blue heeler, and Maggie, a 3-year-old English pointer.

Perry said the dogs were fine after they were rescued.

“They were hidden in the corner — one in the corner of the dining room, and the other in the corner of the living room,” Perry said, adding they had no smoke inhalation problems. “They were lower to the ground than the heavy smoke can get so they were fine.”

The dogs needed no veterinary attention, he said, and are at home with their family.

The cause of the fire is not yet determined and is still under investigation, Perry said.

No one was injured in the fire that moderately damaged the kitchen.

“Our guys did a great job of containing it to that one room,” Perry said.