Man dies in house fire trying to save dog, father’s ashes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE/Gray News) - An Indiana woman is mourning her husband after he died in a house fire while trying to find first his dog and then his father’s ashes.

Scott County dispatch confirmed crews worked the Wednesday morning fire on Highway 256 near Austin. One man was killed in the blaze, WAVE reports.

The wife of the man who died, who wanted to remain anonymous, says a candle fell into a garbage can and started the fire.

The couple managed to escape the house but noticed that their dog wasn’t with them. The man rushed back inside to rescue the dog. When the woman found the dog under a car outside, she entered the house to get her husband out, saying she army-crawled about 15 feet to let him know the dog was safe.

However, he stayed inside to try to find his father’s ashes.

“He’d lost everything so many times before. He kept saying he couldn’t lose everything again,” the woman said. “He just needed to find his dad’s ashes. He just wanted to find his dad. He told me to make sure that me and her are safe and to get out, that he would be out. He told me he loved me, and I told him I loved him.”

That was the last conversation she had with her husband. He couldn’t get out of the burning home and died in the fire.

“He was my soulmate,” she said.

Firefighters have not reported an official cause of the fire. Indiana Fire Marshals are investigating.

The victim’s name has not been released.

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