Dog survives devastating Curry Street fire

Thanks to a passerby, Elizabeth Nix and her mother Kathleen Stevens escaped a fire that engulfed their Carson City home Tuesday afternoon.

For tense moments after she fled the burning travel trailer where she sleeps, Nix agonized over the fate of her dog.

"I ran out and I thought my dog was out, but I remember the door shutting behind me," cried a robe-clad Nix as the fire raged. "I need my dog out of the trailer. Nobody's even looked for him. All they have to do is look inside and see if he's still alive."

To each uniformed person who walked by Nix would rush up and plead, "My dog, please," only to be escorted back to the curb.

But once the flames had been extinguished, it was Nix's persistence that someone look for her 6-year-old wolf mix that prompted a firefighter to do just that.

To a roar of cheers, the man emerged from the skeleton of the trailer with a dazed but alive Thor leading the way.

"I'm pretty amazed but thankful he was alive," said Fire Chief Stacey Giomi.

He and fire crews had given up hope that the dog would survive the intense heat and smoke of the fire that consumed the travel trailer, barn and the rear of the yellow 493-square-foot home built in 1917 at the corner of Curry and Seventh streets.

Giomi said the Red Cross responded to assist the family, and he believed Thor was taken to a veterinarian to be checked out.

Denise Repp of Carson City said she was driving past when she saw a "smidgen of smoke" above the backyard wooden fence. By the time she turned her car around to get another look, flames were leaping two stories high.

Repp said she called 911 as she ran to the front door of the house and alerted Stevens, who said her daughter was in the trailer in the back.

Repp then ran to the side of the home and banged on Nix's door.

Stevens, who works graveyard at the convenience store across the street, said she was napping when the fire broke out. She had no idea what started it.

Giomi said the fire burned so intensely because a gas meter in the middle of it was damaged.

"It was blowing out gas and there was a bunch of debris piled up against that gas meter that we had to peel away. Once that ignited it became an instant source of fire," said Giomi.

Battalion Chief Eric Bero said crews had to position two hoses onto the area so a firefighter could reach through the flames and turn the valve off.

"It worked perfectly," he said.

Crews were able to save 75 percent of the home and prevent the fire from reaching a house to the south and an office building to the west. Damage is estimated in excess of $100,000, said Bero.

Giomi said the cause is under investigation.

Nix was also at a loss for the cause, but her panic faded with Thor by her side.

Despite the fact that she had on just a robe, she opted to hold it closed with her hand and use her belt as a leash for her dog.

"Now I'm a little embarrassed that I'm half naked," she said with a chuckle. "I don't have any clothes, but he's alive, so I don't care."