London the dog helps save lives during morning condo fire

IDAHO FALLS — A dog helped save lives after alerting its owner to the smell of smoke in a condo Tuesday morning.

London, the dog, began barking at home and alerted its owner to smoke and an electrical smell from a breaker box. The woman then called 911.

RELATED | Evacuations in progress after fire reported in Idaho Falls

Firefighters from the Idaho Falls Fire Department responded just before 7 a.m. to the 1500 block of Woodruff Avenue at the Three Fountain Condominium complex. Firefighters reported a two-story multifamily dwelling with no smoke or flames seen outside the building, a news release said.

Residents evacuated from the eight-unit complex while firefighters began searching both the outside and inside of the building.

Smoke was then found coming from the corner of a second-floor condo and vents near the roof. Firefighters investigated and found smoke coming from the breaker box, which was then tracked to some electrical conduit and eventually down into a crawl space where the fire was found under the first floor, the release said.

Firefighters cut a hole in the floor and extinguished the fire. There were no injuries reported.

There was a temporary road closure in the morning while the Idaho Falls Police Department provided traffic control. Idaho Falls Power and the Chaplains of Idaho came to assist on the scene.

Initial damages were estimated at around $80,000, with at least one of the units being unlivable.

There was smoke damage to nearby units. The Chaplains of Idaho and the Red Cross helped seven people find a temporary place to stay due to the power being shut off to the entire building for an undetermined amount of time.

While a homeowner reported smoke coming from a breaker box, the official cause of the fire remains under investigation, the news release said.

Kerry Hammon, a spokeswoman with the Idaho Falls Fire Department, told EastIdahoNews.com, the response to the fire was a domino effect.

“The dog was the first to detect the smoke, even before smoke detectors, and the dog alerted its owner, who quickly called 9-1-1. IFFD Station #4 is located only one mile away from the condo complex, so we got there quickly,” Hammon said. “Seconds matter in emergencies, and in this case, the response was expedited by the dog and owner’s actions.”