3/23/14 - The Brighton Area Fire Authority barely had time to handle one house fire in the early morning today before being called upon to handle a second one. The first fire occurred at 3:15am off of Bauer Road in Genoa Township. The call came in from a passerby, who stopped to knock on the door of the home to get the occupants out. The fire was mostly isolated to the garage, which was destroyed, but fire crews were able to prevent the flames from spreading to the house with an aggressive attack. At about 4:25, just as the fire was knocked down and firefighters were going after hot spots, another motorist called in to report a house fire, this time off of Culver Road. Fire Chief Mike O'Brian tells WHMI the driver stopped to make sure everyone was out, but the occupants of the home were already aware of the fire. The family's German shepherd managed to wake up an occupant on the first floor, who escaped with the dog. He began shouting and throwing rocks to wake up the occupants on the second floor, who had to jump to get to safety and suffered minor injuries. When fire crews arrived the house was fully involved in the fire, and O'Brian says it is a complete loss despite the combined efforts of several fire departments. He adds that the fire department is grateful to the dog for saving the people in the house, but tragedy was only narrowly avoided, and both fires should make it clear how important it is to have working smoke detectors. (TD)
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