Pets rescued from fire

UPDATE 4:20 P.M.

West Kelowna firefighters were able to quickly knock down a fire at a bed and breakfast in Casa Loma but it's a pair of Good Samaritans who are being applauded for entering the smoke filled home to save a couple of pets.

Dwight Unrau, on vacation at nearby Casa Loma Resort drove to the scene after seeing smoke coming from the Casa Loma Bed and Breakfast.

"I figured it didn't look that bad so I went in and started yelling. There was a dog barking and I tried to get the dog out of the house."

He says the dog came out but kept running in and out.

"It was panicking," he says.

Unrau says they were able to get a cat out and put it in a cage but couldn't get the dog to come back out.

Shelly-Lynn Mazur, a neighbour of the B & B says she and another neighbour were hosing down the house trying to keep the fire at bay when the fire department arrived.

"When the fire department came I went into the back yard and broke into their house while they (firefighters) were in the front and got him (dog) out," says Mazur.

"He wouldn't come out for the longest time because that was his house. But I think pure instinct...he finally came and we got him out."

Neither Unrau or Mazur gave a second thought to going into the smoky home in search of the pets.

"You look at the situation...it isn't too smoky. I knew my way in and knew my way out," says Unrau.

"If someone is in this house that's in distress, even it we couldn't get up there we could report to someone that had oxygen."

Mazur also says she felt safe.

"The fire department was already here. They had the foam retardant going," says Mazur.

There was no sign of flames and none in the basement where I broke in and where he finally went in."

As for being a hero.

"I didn't think it was much of a rescue. Everyone was busy and you knew it (dog) was in there because we all saw it go back in there.

I felt it was safe. I just didn't think about it. I would want my dog saved."

The home itself suffered extensive damage.

Firefighters had to rip apart portions of the roof to put out hot spots and look for fire extensions.

---

West Kelowna fire crews have a house fire in Casa Loma knocked down.

The fire, at the Casa Loma Bed and Breakfast on Benedick Road, broke out sometime after 2 p.m. Friday.

A neighbour noticed smoke coming from the house and banged on the front door.

They entered the home, discovered no one was home at the time but were able to rescue a cat and a dog.

They were forced to leave as the home continued to fill up with black smoke.

Fire crews were able to quickly knock down the fire and are presently ripping apart the roof looking for hot spots.

The home suffered extensive damage as a result.