Show dogs spared as blaze guts home

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
SHOW dogs due to perform at the Royal Melbourne Show were rescued from a Launching Place house fire over the weekend.
It was one of two Upper Yarra house fires that occurred within hours of each other, and luckily no people were injured in the blazes.
Hillcrest CFA volunteers, who service the Woori Yallock, Launching Place, and Don Valley areas, barely had time for a rest on Saturday after cleaning up an earlier fire in Woori Yallock, before they were called again. The Launching Place fire started at a house on Dalry Road, about 1am.
Hillcrest CFA captain Rick Shaw said it was an intense fire that started in the bedroom from a man smoking in bed.
“He had fallen asleep and awoke to find the bedroom ablaze,” he said.
“His son was asleep at the other end of the house and by the time they got out and grabbed these Boston Terrior dogs the place was gone.”
Capt Shaw said the show dogs were due to perform at the Royal Melbourne Show later on Sunday but after the devastating night the next day’s actions were left in doubt.
Video footage shot by television news crews showed the CFA volunteers and the family carrying the puppies and leading the dogs out of the house to safety.
The house fire in Woori Yallock occurred just after noon on Saturday, in Sally Court.
Fortunately the occupants were out of the house at the time, said Capt Shaw, because the fire ripped through the house quickly. “Two other houses were also under severe threat, and one was scorched from the heat,” he said.
Capt Shaw said the owner was on his way home from work at the time.
“He drove into the street just ahead of us to find his house going up in flames, so it was a bit of a shock,” Capt Shaw said.
“His partner was down at the park with their children when it went up.”
CFA fire investigators are still looking for a cause.