Four Puppies Die In Tonka Bay House Fire

The Twin Cities Fire Wire and Twin Cities media are reporting the State Fire Marshal said the cause of a Monday house fire on Tonka Bay is a heating lamp that was warming newborn puppies.

The puppies died in the fire, but their mother survived, according to the Star Tribune.

Excelsior Fire District Chief Scott Gerber said Monday that emergency dispatchers took the initial call just before 4 p.m.

The front of the structure nearest the road suffered extensive damage and flames were coming out of the roof and windows as firefighters aimed about a half-dozen hoses on it.

Bill Pierce, who has lived in the lake shore neighborhood on Echo Bay since the 1970s, said he just pulled into his driveway—less than a block away from the home—when he heard a loud explosion.

"It was like a bomb going off," Pierce said. "I walked down there and you could hear four of five other explosions in the house. By then the outside of the house was gone. Flames were coming off five or six feet from the front porch."

Fire district officials said propane cylinders and other combustible materials exploded after the fire already was going, according to the Twin Cities Fire Wire. The heating lamp was in the garage, as were the propane cylinders.

Steve Eilatson, who lives across the street, said he initially heard one large explosion and then several smaller ones. Eilatson was able to reach the owners of the home by phone. He said they were staying "up north" and were "surprised and devastated" by news of the fire.

Both Eilatson and Pierce said the same home burned down several years ago and that the rebuilt structure was less than a year old.