The mobile home fire in Brown County that killed one man has been ruled accidental. On the scene Thursday was Nika, Brownwood’s new arson dog.
It was her first fire investigation in Brown County since coming home from training. Click Here for the full story on Tuesday’s fire near Bangs.
After investigating her first actual fire since coming home to Brownwood, Nika visited the scene of another house fire in Coleman.
Despite arson also being ruled out in the fire, it’s still a tragedy for those that lost a home.
“I didn’t want anybody to be hurt but… the first thing I asked about was my babies,” cried Kim McCain, who lived in the destroyed house.
Her babies were her dogs. Mccain lost all but one, Bubba, which was saved by a neighbor.
“When the fire started it started in the laundry room. That’s where their doggy door was so they went to my bedroom for safety.”
The Coleman Fire Department said the four other dogs weren’t killed by the fire though, just the smoke.
While this tragic fire did consume the house and take the life McCain’s dogs, it was a chance for another dog to come in a practice for cases very similar to this one.
“He just said we want to bring the dog by and I said no problem,” she said about allowing Fire Marshal Preston and Nika to investigate the property.
Preston said dogs like Nika like to have at least 50 fires like these to stay up on training.
“It just presents a good realistic training opportunity to bring the dog out and let her work,” Preston explained.
For the Coleman Fire Department, it’s nice to know that this resource is readily available in the neighboring county.
Coleman Fire Chief, Richard Hensley said, “Obviously seeing the dog work is exciting for me. And knowing that the tool is local is even more exciting.”
Despite the fire being accidental; McCain said a neighbor told her it was lightning; It may be a preview for actual arson cases in the future.
Chief Hensley went on, “In the future she’ll hit on some things that we can use and maybe get some prosecution on some of the arson cases that we have.”
Which will change the approach to possible arson cases to come.
According to McCain, The Red Cross has been called in to help in clean-up and recovery of the house.
Click Here for video of the full story at BigCountryHomepage.com
