Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RURAL RETREAT LENGTH: Medium
Buddy came as part of the package when Johanna Fisher bought her\ green-and-white trailer next to the Hiland Drive-In off U.S. 11.
She didn't want the dog, who had been left behind by his owners when they sold the trailer.
"I'd already lost one dog and it was too hard," said the 40-year-old truck driver. "I was sort of ticked off because I didn't want another pet."
But Buddy proved to be the best deal Fisher ever made early Friday, when the little cocker spaniel mix alerted Fisher's daughter to a fire that destroyed the trailer.
Beverly Ludington, 21, was sleeping when Buddy, driven by the fire from his favorite sleeping spot under the trailer, began to claw and whine at the back door. Fisher was out of town on a truck run.
If she hadn't heard Buddy's ruckus outside, Ludington said, she may never have awakened in time to run out of the smoke-filled trailer and search for help from neighbors.
"As soon as I woke up and heard him, I got up and opened my door to let him in," Ludington said. "But the place was filled with black smoke. I couldn't see or breathe, so I just ran outside."
Ludington lost everything she owned except the sweat pants, sweat shirt and shoes she was wearing. She was treated for smoke inhalation at Wythe County Community Hospital.
The cause of the fire still is under investigation, but Rural Retreat Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dale Mercer said it appears to have been started by a faulty kerosene heater.
Buddy's heroic efforts didn't end after Ludington escaped the fire. Ludington said the dog was with her when the ambulance came. But after it drove off, Buddy must have become confused and thought she was still in the trailer.
"When we got the fire extinguished, the dog kept running in the trailer," said firefighter David Evans. "We'd bring it back out and he'd run back in."
Evans said they eventually called the dog warden to pick up the frantic dog until Ludington could come back for him.
Evans said this isn't the first time in his 51/2 years of fighting fires that he's seen a dog save a life.
"It happened one other time," Evans said. "One of our firefighters' house was on fire and the dog woke him up.''
He said the firefighter probably would not have escaped the fire if not for the dog.
"You would think an animal would run from fire," Fisher said. "But Buddy was looking for Beverly. He wasn't going anywhere until he knew Beverly was safe."
Fisher, who drives 18-wheelers cross-country with her 62-year-old mother, Mildred Semones, didn't know about the fire until she rolled into town Friday morning.
"The sun was just coming up when we drove by" the trailer, Fisher said. "You could see all the way through it. I knew it had burned."
"It's a good thing I was driving," Semones said, "or we might have had a wreck on top of it all."
While Fisher looks for a new home, Buddy, who has become a local celebrity, is staying temporarily with Fisher's sister, Olyvia Goetzinger.
"But we're keeping him, that's for sure," Ludington said, hugging the dog.
Fisher agrees.
"If I hadn't of kept the dog I probably wouldn't have my daughter," she said. "I'd say Buddy has earned his keep."
by CNB