Puppy's Yelps Alert Residents To Louisiana House Fire

BOSSIER CITY, La. (AP) -- The yelps of a 5-week-old pit bull puppy helped save six people from a burning house. David O'Neal was watching television in the Bossier City residence Monday morning when he heard the puppy, Rhonda, yelping from a room in the back of the house. ``At first I thought she was stuck or something, but when I went to the back the whole room was filled with smoke and fire,'' said O'Neal, who received the puppy as a Christmas gift. ``I tried to get her out but it was too smoky, so I went across the street and called 911.''

Firefighters arrived about 10:45 a.m. and found heavy flames and smoke billowing from the rear of the wood-framed structure, said Mark Natale, city spokesman. The fire had spread into the attic. Everyone in the home had already escaped unharmed, but Rhonda had to be rescued by firefighters.

``The dog was yelping at the time, so firefighters got a pediatric oxygen mask and administered oxygen,'' Natale said. ``It turned out the dog will be just fine.''

O'Neal, one of 10 people who live in the home, said he attempted to go inside the house and get the puppy after he called emergency crews. But he couldn't see.

Natale warned of the danger of going back inside a burning house. Three people died in Homer over the weekend after going back inside a burning house.

Investigators believe wiring located in a rear bedroom of the house sparked the fire, Natale said.