The dogs wouldn’t stop barking. But they helped save a Kennewick couple

Nat Noyola and his wife woke Thursday to the sound of their dogs barking.

The three small pets usually can be quickly quieted but this time they wouldn’t stop.

When Nat and Romelia looked out the window a little after 3 a.m., they saw an orange light outside.

“It looked like the lights from a police car or a firetruck,” said Nat Noyola, 69. “My wife stepped outside and that’s when she saw there was a fire burning between the homes.”

The early blaze started between their home at 1719 S. Rainier Street and their neighbors’ at 1711 Rainier. It reached his neighbors first, then spread to their house.

As his wife called 911, he said he didn’t have time to think. He went inside and grabbed leashes for the dogs and took them outside.

Inside were his wallet, cellphone and everything he’d collected in his 25 years living there.

“You don’t have time to think about anything other than getting everyone out,” he said. “I was outside in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.”

At least one neighbor heard the fire before seeing it. He told Nat it seemed like something was hitting the house and then he got up and saw the flames.

Other neighbors came banging on their doors to make sure everyone was out safely. Two adults and two pets lived in the second home.

The blaze may have started near some machinery and other items near the neighbor’s house. The fire spread quickly into the attic and then over to the Noyolas’ home, said Kennewick Battalion Chief Mikal Barnett.

Firefighters from Kennewick, Richland, Pasco and Benton County Fire District 1 fought the two-alarm blaze for about five hours.

Fire damaged about a quarter of the Noyolas’ home but destroyed the house next door.

Noyola is grateful the fire didn’t hurt anyone or any animals. He said his insurance company was working on finding him a place to stay while his house is rebuilt.

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 7:34 PM with the headline "The dogs wouldn’t stop barking. But they helped save a Kennewick couple."