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A family’s dog might be responsible for starting a house fire Tuesday night on the north side of Onalaska.

About 24 firefighters had just been through a training session when a call came in for a structural fire at N4962 Hurricane Court at 7:24 p.m. When firefighters arrived four minutes later, smoke was coming out the eaves and windows of the home.

When they gained entry, they found a fire in a waste paper basket placed on the top of the electric stove in the kitchen. Flames were reaching the ceiling and close to breaking through to the attic, but firefighters were able to contain the fire to the kitchen.

According to Onalaska Fire Chief Don Dominick, the residents, who declined to speak with media, said they had gone out for about 20 minutes on an errand, leaving two dogs in the house. They had put a waste basket on top of the stove, which was not being used, so the dogs wouldn’t get into it. The resident suspects one of the dogs jumped up onto the stove and hit one of the knobs that turned on a burner under the waste basket.

When the residents returned, the house was filled with smoke. They got one of the dogs out of the house, but left when they couldn’t get the other dog. They called 9-1-1 from a neighbor’s house.

No one was hurt and that’s because the residents did the right thing, Dominick said. “Everyone got out and everyone’s OK. They did what people should do — get out to a neighbors and then call.”

Dominick said the fire was quickly brought under control.

Firefighters did find the family’s other dog in a bedroom on the main level.

“A firefighter pulled out an 80-90-pound golden Lab,” Gudie said. He said the dog was covered with soot but “it was quite a sight to see him bring that big dog out.”

Gudie said the home sustained moderate smoke damage and minor water damage and the heat had cracked some of the windows.

Dominick said Wednesday they were going back to the home to continue their investigation of the electric stove to see if it really was one of the dogs or if the stove malfunctioned. “The results will go to a national firefighter database,” Dominick said. “Information about the stove model and serial number will be entered into the database that would go to manufacturers. If there have been problems with that model causing fires, there might be a recall. That’s how a lot of recalls get done, through fire and first responder and police reports.”

Contact Jo Anne Killeen at joanne.killeen@lee.net or (608) 786-6816.