Dad 'absolutely devasted' after dog dies during flat fire

Jason Fowler, 28 is a father of two to an 11-year-old daughter and five-month-old baby.

He also lived with six-year-old, Hope, an American Bulldog who was described as Jason’s ‘best friend’.

On March 3, a fire erupted in his flat whilst Jason was out, which sadly killed Hope in the blaze.

Jason’s sister, Hayley Fowler said: “He'd been out to the shop, and he came back and he could see his flat was on fire.

“He quickly pulled some ladders and tried the second-floor flat. He tried smashing the window, obviously, because he wanted to get his dog out but he couldn't smash a hole big enough.

“Then the neighbours heard him smashing the window. So, they said, is everything all right, Jason? What's going on? He said, no, my flat is on fire and my dog's in there.

“They quickly let him in and they went up.”

“He went in to try and get the dog but Hope was sat in front of the living room door where the fire was and he couldn't push it far enough open to get the dog out.

“By then it was too late.”

Now, the family wants to raise money for Jason and his family after the tragedy.

Speaking on the aftermath of the incident, Hayley added: “He’s absolutely devastated about his dog.

“His daughter stays with him on the weekend and everything she's had is in there. They've lived there for six years, so everything's just gone now and he's staying in a hotel.

“He can't go back there for a minimum six months, because the council said it's going to take four to six months to fix everything.

“It's horrible.

“We just got to try and rebuild, make it as easy as we can just to get back to some normality.”

A spokesperson for DWFRS said: "We were called to a property fire in King John Close, Poole at 6:46pm on Sunday 3rd March.

"Two fire engines from Poole, and one from Westbourne were mobilised to the incident and on arrival found a fire within a bedroom of a first floor flat.

"Four breathing apparatus wearers used hose reel jets to extinguish the fire. One adult male had escaped before our arrival and firefighters rescued a dog from the property which was unconscious and not breathing.

"Crews worked to try and resuscitate the dog but sadly it had passed away.

"The property had extensive fire damage and the occupant suffered smoke inhalation and burns to his hands and arms; he was left in the care of the ambulance service.

"The stop message came in at 7:46pm and we remained on scene until 8:45pm."

"We know it was accidental but not the exact cause."