MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A family is grateful their Pit Bull is alive after their home was destroyed in a massive fire.
The fire broke out 8:00 p.m. Friday in a mobile home in the Huntington subdivision off State Highway 242 in Montgomery County.
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Investigators say the family had started a small fire in the fireplace before heading out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. The homeowner, Lea Croston, says they had just finished dinner when she received a call from her neighbor who was reported seeing smoke coming from her house.
The Needham Fire Department pulled a second alarm, arriving to flames shooting through the roof.
Firefighters say fierce winds made the fire worse, which eventually caused the 5-year-old roof on the mobile home to collapse. That's when investigators say Croston told them that her Pit Bull, Little Bit, was still inside.
Moments later, firefighters emerged with the Croston's family pet. Emergency personnel took the dog across the street to apply a pet oxygen mask, which is carried on most emergency response units in Montgomery County.
Arson investigators say early indications say the cause of fire was the fireplace, aaying it is possible that the metal from the fireplace may have heated and that the radiant heat started a fire in a empty area between the wall and the fireplace.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. There were no reports of injuries.