Two 'hero' dogs perish in Centralia fire

Two dogs died in a house fire at 610 Field Ave. in Centralia on Tuesday afternoon, the Riverside Fire Authority confirmed Wednesday.

No other injuries or fatalities were reported.

Firefighters from the Riverside Fire Authority responded at around 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16, to a report of a porch fire that was rapidly spreading to the roof, according to Riverside Fire Chief Kevin Anderson.

The sole human occupant of the residence was reportedly napping when the fire broke out, but his dogs woke him up and he was able to self-evacuate, Anderson said.

“It was unfortunate that they perished. It’s always unfortunate when an animal dies in a fire, but these were hero dogs,” Anderson said.

Traffic was routed around the scene as firefighters with Riverside and the Chehalis Fire Department battled the blaze for about two hours Tuesday afternoon. The Centralia Police Department and Centralia City Light also responded.

Centralia Detective Tim O'Dell told The Chronicle Tuesday afternoon that there were no injuries or fatalities reported as firefighters knocked down the flames and did a preliminary search of the home at around 4:30 p.m.

“All information at this point is that it’s likely an accidental fire. Obviously we’ll be investigating for a while to kind of figure out the area of origin and what may have caused the fire,” O’Dell said.

Fire investigators were on the scene until about 9 p.m. Tuesday night. The cause of the fire was still under investigation as of Wednesday afternoon.

The house is most-likely a total loss, Anderson said.