A New Iberia family escapes a house fire unharmed, but one of their family pets did not make it out.
The fire happened in the 700 block of East Dale Street.
“When I came around the corner, I smelled something funny, and then I saw flames coming out of our bedroom door,” said Melissa Harvison.
She was home with her husband Brady Latiolais and said the fire spread quickly.
“We got out with the clothes on our back, and we had to come back the next day to get our bicycles. We weren’t able to salvage anything but the bottom row of meat from our freezer,” said Harvison.
The couple says all they wanted to do was save their dogs. They were able to get two of them out of the house, but the third one was trapped. Now, there is a makeshift grave in the backyard for their beloved pet.
“That one was hard on us because she was our baby; she was a big baby,” Harvison said. “She died right there.”
The family is questioning the fire department’s response time and how soon they started fighting the fire. The chief said his crew responded within three minutes of the 911 call, and the fire was under control within a half hour.
“The dog could have had a life saved, maybe,” said Harvison.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
