MINNEAPOLIS — Charred debris surround s house on Aldrich Ave. N. in north Minneapolis, after a fire Saturday night – ripped through the home.
"I noticed the red on my curtains and realized the whole block was full of firefighters," said neighbor, Dana Fontaine.
Fontaine has lived in this tight knit community for the past five years. She immediately jumped into action when she noticed flames engulfing her neighbors home.
"It's just this phone line of communication with the neighbors trying to find out what was going on," she said. "I just b-lined over there and put my arms around one of them.”
Minneapolis fire officials say they were first called to the home just before 10 p.m. Officials say two residents of the home were able to evacuate safely with no injuries, but told firefighters there were still 10 dogs inside the home.
Neighbors say the family operated a rescue for animals.
"These two - their dogs are their whole life and they are big into fostering and they had 10 dogs in the home and 3 were not their dogs, they were watching for friends out of town," she said.
Unfortunately, most of the dogs didn't survive.
"Only 2 of them made it out," said Fontaine. "Even the girls tried to run back in but the fire was too big.”
Now – the neighbors are working together to help the family move forward after tragedy.
A GoFundMe was started to help the family. For more information, visit the link here.
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