Amherst Fire Department dispatcher Rob Kyer was working Friday night when he heard the address of his own home go out over the scanner.
"I heard them tone out the address, and I didn't know what I was hearing at first," he told WMUR-TV. "Then, they repeated it."
He said his first concern was for his wife, Lori, who was at home when the smoke alarm sounded.
"I take a couple steps out into the hallway, and immediately I am bombarded in the face with the blackest smoke ever," she said after the ordeal. "And the heat -- it just knocked me back."
While Lori didn't think to call her husband, the dispatcher that assisted her did.
"She actually took the time to use her personal cell phone to call me directly while she was in the middle of doing all that stuff and tell me she is OK, she's out and she's got her on the other line," he said.
The fire is believed to be electrical, originating behind the refrigerator.
Kyer's colleagues at the fire department have taken up a collection and have started a fund for the family at TD Bank following the blaze.
