A Fire Alarm On Four Paws

Chandra McGinnis always thought that if fire struck at home, the one thing she would save would be her pets.

It's a cliche, she said, that became a reality Saturday morning, when fire broke out in the garage of her parents' Healdsburg home.

A dog named Fargo alerted her to the fire by waking her up at about 5 a.m., and she spent the rest of the morning trying to save her other pets.

"One of the animals saved us, so we owe our lives to them, so I would risk my life to save them," McGinnis said Monday afternoon, standing next to the remains of her parents' Alta Vista Drive home on Fitch Mountain.

The charred beams of the garage rise from a bed of blackened debris. Three vehicles, including Chandra's "baby," a 2007 Ford Mustang, sit like gray, ashy carcasses.

According to firefighters, the McGinnises have one of the animals to thank for being able to get out of the house safely. Fargo, the family's 2-year-old black Labrador, detected danger at least five minutes before smoke alarms were triggered.

"Fargo barreled into where I was sleeping, jumped on top of me, put his paws on my chest and barked until I woke up," McGinnis said.

McGinnis, who was home for he weekend from her pre-med studies at UC Davis, said the tone in Fargo's voice was unmistakable.

"I thought, this is real, I really need to listen to him."

McGinnis looked out the bedroom window and saw flames about five feet high inside the garage through a garage window. The fire was likely fueled by cans of varnish and paint, stuffed animals and other materials inside the garage.

She quickly woke her father, Michael McGinnis, who raced to the garage, opening a door to the garage from inside the house. A draft of flame and smoke pushed its way past him traveling above his head along the ceiling.

The draft forced shut a door where Chandra was standing at the end of the hallway. Her father and one of their dogs, another black Lab, named Savannah, were trapped in the hallway. Chandra pushed open the door, and her father crawled on his hands and knees toward her, pushing Savannah, who was frozen with fear, in front of him.

The narrative is made real by a house that, although still standing, is a total loss. Damage is estimated at about $800,000, and it will be 12 to 14 months before the family is able to rebuild.

The family is currently staying at a local hotel and trying to find another place to stay. Friends have offered to put them up until they find a more permanent place to live.

Michael McGinnis, a psychotherapist who worked out of his home, said he's working with his insurance company to relocate both the family and his office until a new home is built.

"My daughter and my wife are fine, my animals are OK, he said. "That's what really matters."

The fire destroyed the garage and part of the front of the house. It also got into the foundation and traveled throughout the attic. Inside the single-story house, the entire floor is covered with several inches of soggy, burned insulation and broken sheets of drywall.

After she and her parents got out of the house, Chandra went back in three times to retrieve her beloved pets, three dogs and two cats.

One cat weathered the fire under a bed in her parents' bedroom, kept alive in the smoke-filled house by a draft of fresh air that traveled along the corner of the room from an open window to an open door. He was recovered hours later.

On Monday, both Chandra and Fargo seemed to both be enduring a residual adrenaline from the two-day-old fire.

"Hey bud, you did good," she said to Fargo. "I'm proud of you."

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.