The alert animal warned that a refrigerator had ignited. The owner says her pet saved her house and once saved her life.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published July 17, 2003
[Times photo: Dan McDuffie]
Barbara Huckabay and Noel, her 6-year-old Dalmation, relax in front of the burnt refrigerator.
DADE CITY - Barbara Huckabay says her Dalmatian, Noel, once saved her life.
Now she credits the dog with saving her house.
A fire that started about 9 p.m. Tuesday in a refrigerator on Huckabay's back porch kitchen quickly spread into the attic. Soon, it threatened the whole house.
Huckabay, who owns Sandbar Designs on Meridian Avenue, had returned home a couple of hours earlier from a five-day business trip to Atlanta.
Her house is an old wood-frame home on St. Joe Road, decorated with antiques and ornate woodwork. Huckabay designed the open-air kitchen in the "Old Florida" style, with hand-painted tile floors and lots of greenery.
She was unpacking from the trip and thinking about fixing dinner. Her boyfriend, Larry Cole, was there, along with her 12-year-old blind rhodesian ridgeback named Sarge.
It was Cole who first heard Noel's barking. The dog was on the porch acting agitated.
"She just wouldn't quit barking," Huckabay said.
Huckabay and Cole walked out to find the refrigerator on fire and flames pouring into the attic vent, leading into the living room.
"It was so scary," Huckabay said. "It happened so fast, it was unbelievable."
Huckabay scrambled to guide Sarge, who weighs 125 pounds, out to the yard. Cole grabbed a garden hose, and with a neighbor's help, started dousing the flames.
Firefighters arrived and kept the blaze from spreading to other rooms.
Dade City fire Capt. Joey Wubbena said the fire took about 40 minutes to extinguish. The damage estimate was $2,500.
On Wednesday, Huckabay and Cole worked to clean up the mess while insurance adjusters milled around. The charred refrigerator was hollow inside, with blackened clumps lining the melted doors.
Huckabay said she lost several pieces of original folk art, including handcrafted birdhouses from Ohio.
Cole suffered a burn on his hand.
Huckabay credits her loyal Dalmatian, the firstborn runt in a litter of 11 puppies.
Several years ago, Huckabay said she was standing in the yard in front of the stoop when Noel, who was inside, began barking and whining near the window. The sky was "cloudy and a little rumbly," Huckabay said.
Wanting to quiet the dog, Huckabay returned to the porch. A moment later, lightning struck the spot where she'd been standing, burning a hole in the ground.
"I don't know - she's a guardian angel for me," Huckabay said.
Dalmatians were originally kept at firehouses to live with the horses that pulled the water pumpers used to put out fires. When a fire alarm rang, the dogs ran behind the horses or led the way through the streets.
Said Huckabay: "You always read stories about Dalmatians being fire dogs, but apparently they really do have some instincts about fire."
- Molly Moorhead can be reached at 352 521-5757, ext. 29 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6108, then 29. Her e-mail address is moorhead@sptimes.com
