STAFF REPORTS
A man and his dog barely escaped with their lives from an inferno that gutted a West Shore house in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday morning.
“It went up like a match stick,” said T.J. Pixton, the occupant who made the lucky escape. “It was a close call. The door we jumped out of was almost engulfed in flames.”
Pixton was in his bedroom behind closed doors with his golden retriever, Bailey. Pixton heard the dog rustling around and woke to the smell of smoke and the crackling sound of fire eating away an entire wall of the Talmot home on Silver Tip Drive.
The fire was called in at 4:38 a.m. Wednesday by a neighbor who saw the house engulfed in flames. North Tahoe Fire Protection District responded to the call and contained the structure fire. CALFIRE and Squaw Valley Fire also responded.
The surrounding forest was left untouched by the blaze; no people or animals were harmed in the fire.
This is the third major fire in the Talmont area in the past six years. In January, a house on Club Drive burned to the ground and one resident suffered minor injuries. In 2007, the Washoe Fire destroyed five houses in the Talmont/Tahoe Park area. Almost half a million people died in structure fires throughout the United States in 2011, the most recent data available from the National Fire Protection Association. Pets are especially vulnerable as they tend to panic in the face of fire and either hide in the house or flee. VPI Pet Insurance, one of many companies offering pet health insurance, recommends putting a sticker in a window asking firefighters to rescue pets.
