Dog alerts owner to smoke before fire consumes Arkansas home

The Sentinel Record/Richard Rasmussen TRAILER ENGULFED: Members of the Lonsdale and Morning Star fire departments extinguish a trailer house fire at 354 Rigsby Loop on Friday. Eight firefighters from each department responded to the fully engulfed fire around 9 a.m. and had the flames controlled in less than 15 minutes. The probable cause was attributed to a wood stove fire which resulted in the total loss of the structure and belongings.
The Sentinel Record/Richard Rasmussen TRAILER ENGULFED: Members of the Lonsdale and Morning Star fire departments extinguish a trailer house fire at 354 Rigsby Loop on Friday. Eight firefighters from each department responded to the fully engulfed fire around 9 a.m. and had the flames controlled in less than 15 minutes. The probable cause was attributed to a wood stove fire which resulted in the total loss of the structure and belongings.

LONSDALE -- A 15-year-old fox terrier named Angel lived up to her name Friday when she saved her owner from a fire that consumed his mobile home in rural east Garland County.

"She's special," Eddie Makin said. "I told her, 'Boy, you must really be an angel.' She was abused and homeless, but she just jumped in my truck one day and she's been with me ever since."

Makin was preparing to go to work around 9 a.m. when Angel scratched at the bedroom door, seeming to indicate that she wanted to go outside. When Makin opened the door, however, he observed heavy smoke in the hallway of his home at 354 Rigsby Loop.

Makin managed to escape through his trailer window with Angel tucked under his arm, making a 9-foot leap barefooted onto the icy grass below. He said he managed to grab his wallet, his keys and toss some clothing out of his home before jumping out the window.

Lonsdale Fire Chief Eddie Tackett said the home was a total loss. Sixteen firefighters -- eight from Lonsdale and eight from Morning Star -- had the fire under control in less than 15 minutes and remained on the scene for about 90 minutes after.

"The fire was due to the heating system," Tackett said. "Everything went well, and we worked together."

Makin said he was in the midst of remodeling his trailer in order to "fix it up nice" for his wife, who is being treated for breast cancer in another city. He said the fire was caused by the pipes through the wall for the wood-burning stove and joked about how his oldest son, Michael, had warned him to put in fire alarms.

"I was amazed by how fast everything happened," he said. "I had just put in a new lift, painted the outside and was putting in a wood-burning stove to keep the heat in."

Makin and his two sons, Michael and Mark, moved from California more than 24 years ago. Makin has worked in construction and window cleaning for more than 30 years in both states.

"All I can do is thank the good Lord for giving me this home to provide for my boys and get them through school," he said. "It was a blessing."

State Desk on 01/23/2018

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