House fire quickly extinguished

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Bella Vista firefighters responded to a structure fire at 15 Pisgah Loop Friday evening.
Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Bella Vista firefighters responded to a structure fire at 15 Pisgah Loop Friday evening.

Last Friday evening, Jorge Torres woke up from a nap to what sounded like rain followed by a series of loud pops.

He went outside and found smoke everywhere. A fire had started under the house and the smoke was already too thick to get back in to retrieve the family dog, Bruno. Just being near the house made it painful to breathe, he said.

"It was all over, I couldn't go back," Torres said.

He called the fire department, which arrived to find a house surrounded by a cloud of smoke; but they were able to rescue the canine quickly. No injuries were reported.

Fire chief Steve Sims said the fire appeared to start under the house, but a cause was not immediately apparent and the fire will need to be investigated.

Jorge's brother, Josue Torres, heard the news and rushed home to check on his family. He was relieved, he said, to find no one was hurt.

"Everything was okay," he said. "As long as my family's okay, that's all that matters to me."

General News on 03/14/2018