Teen Enters Burning Building To Retrieve Dog
How very, very sad! What a good young man!
This article comes from the New Zealand Herald.
Teenager died trying to save dog from fire
The teenage victim of a sleepout fire in Rangiora ignored the pleas of his friends not to re-enter the blazing building to rescue a dog, police said tonight.
Anthony James Chiles-Peart, 17, was spending the night in the sleepout at a friend’s house during a school holiday get-together, when it caught fire at 3.58am today.
Mr Chiles-Peart and two other teenage boys in the sleepout all escaped, but Mr Chiles-Peart went back inside to rescue a small dog.
Detective Sergeant Rex Barnett said the dog had not belonged to Mr Chiles-Peart.
“His friends told him not to go back. Obviously it was fraught with danger.”
Mr Barnett said it was believed the fire was caused by a candle left burning in a Chinese lantern.
There were no suspicious circumstances and the matter would be referred to the coroner.
The get-together had been “just an innocent sort of thing”, he said.
But the occupants of the sleep-out — a converted garage — broke the cardinal rule of lighting a candle and going to sleep.
Rangiora Chief Fire Officer Ross Ditmer said one other person receiver minor injuries from the fire, and the dog died alongside Mr Chiles-Peart.
