LUCERNE ? An early wake-up call Thanksgiving morning saved the lives and home of a Lucerne family. Chris Sorenson said his service dog, Buster, woke him up in time to prevent a fire.
Sorenson said it was 4 a.m. when Buster, a nine-year-old golden retriever, alerted him. “Buster hit me in the back of my head with both paws and said, ?woof,” you know, yowled. I opened my eyes and saw flashing in my room ? the whole room was lit up, the plug on my wall had blown up. Flames and sparks were shooting out of it,” Sorenson said.
A former firefighter on the Northshore, Sorenson ran down the hall and woke up his wife so she could take the couple”s three children out of the house. The children, Hally, one and a half years old, Luke, 8, and C.J., 17, made it out safely. The flames stopped when Sorenson flipped the breaker switch, cutting off electricity to the house.
“He (Buster) definitely saved my life,” Sorenson said. No one was injured and the house took no damage, save for about six inches of burnt wire Sorenson pulled out of the wall after the flames were out.
“It could”ve caught the wall on fire inside and we could”ve had a structure fire,” Sorenson said. “Usually a fire will burn inside the wall and go up to the attic and catch everything upstairs on fire.” Sorenson”s pet grooming business, run out of his garage, was also saved.
Sorenson said he”s going to heed his own warning and have the rest of his outlets checked. “Check your plugs before you plug your Christmas tree lights in,” Sorenson said. “When you have old plugs and you”re bringing your lamps and other things in and out for a long time they get worn out and get cracks in them, and that can cause a short. If we can teach people a little fire safety here we might save someone”s life.”
A March 2007 note from Sorenson”s doctor shows that Buster is prescribed to him as a service animal to help reduce blood pressure, pressure to Sorenson”s eye and anxiety. Sorenson said he adopted Buster from the pound as a five-month-old puppy and trained him to help with daily tasks.
Sorenson is blind in his right eye and has tunnel vision in his left, takes prescriptions for glaucoma and a heart condition and has a hard time getting around after back surgery that replaced four discs in his spinal column.
“He”s the smartest dog I ever had,” Sorenson said. “At dinner last night when we said our prayers we thanked the Lord for Buster, and we”re grateful we have him.”
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
