HILAND PARK — Residents of a home that was completely engulfed in flames Friday afternoon narrowly escaped with the life of their blind dog.
No injuries were reported from the scene of the house fire at 2139 E. Baldwin Road, officials said.
Mark Robertson, a resident of the home, cradled a whimpering, shaggy dog with burns on its feet at about 1 p.m. Friday across the street as the fire raged. Moments earlier, he’d frantically rushed to get all four dogs, two parakeets and two cats out of the house before the flames grew to the towering inferno the home would eventually become.
Robertson said he noticed something smoking within the home only about half an hour earlier, but he couldn’t find a fire extinguisher. Suddenly the entire house was filled with blinding smoke.
“I went to get the animals out, and the smoke was too thick to see,” he said. “By the time I got them all out, our oldest dog, who can’t see, had wandered back into the house.”
Robertson said he ran back in, and the flames had already began to spread throughout the home. As the blaze intensified, he was able to find the dog and carry him to safety.
“I just can’t believe how fast it went,” he said.
Fire crews from Lynn Haven, Springfield and Bay County worked in tandem with ladder hoses and ground attacks to control the fire shortly after 2 p.m. However, the house was a complete loss by that point, officials said.
Neighbors called the almost 50-year-old home at the corner of Bookins and Baldwin roads “the Bookins’ home.” Robertson said the home, constructed solely out of pine wood, was owned by his wife. He also said he had previously tinkered with the wiring of the home and believed the fire was caused by an electrical issue.
The fire closed a large stretch of Baldwin Road from about 12:30 p.m. through the afternoon. Fire marshals were still investigating the cause of the blaze as of Friday evening.
Bay County fire crews also worked three other residential structure fires earlier in the week that damaged homes.
Friday at 1 a.m., firefighters were called to 6201 W. Hwy 388. Thursday at noon, trucks responded to 9602 Indian Bluff Resort Lane. Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., crews fought a house fire at 8711 Laird St.