Tuesday, January 13, 2009


WARREN COUNTY, Iowa -- Firefighters believe a goat kick
started a fire that
destroyed a home in Warren County today.

Three people were asleep when smoke began filling Jim and
Kristi Giles' home
in Warren County, between Norwalk and Indianola.

"My cat woke me up and I saw smoke coming out of my fan,"
said John Hadley.
"My first concern was getting my mom out of the house.
Because, like I said,
my mom is real ill. And so that's what I did. I made sure I
got her out and
then I know she loves her animals, so I rounded all her
animals up, and by
that point, flames and smoke were everywhere."

The fire continued to rage and had nearly eaten the entire
roof by the time
firefighters made it to the home.

Three departments tried to fight the fire in temperatures
below zero.

"It's hard on the men and it's hard on the equipment," said
Kevin Dingman,
Assistant Northern Warren County Fire Chief.

Firefighters had to use tanker trucks to haul in water from
several miles
away. They said their fight to save the house was a lost
battle almost as
soon as they arrived.

"Once it's fully involved like this, then it's not worth
sending your fellow
firefighters in for something like this. I mean the house
was fully
involved, and it's too dangerous to send anybody in," said
Dingman.

Firefighters think the fire may have been started by one of
two goats. The
family kept the goats inside a shed that was attached to the
rear of the
house.

"They put a space heater in there for the goats to stay
warm. The goats
knocked it over, causing a fire," said Dingman.

The goats were rescued, and so was a family dog.

The cat that warned the family of the fire is still missing,
but is believed
to be safe. No one was hurt in the fire.

"The animals and the people were the most important thing,"
John Hadley
said.