By Olivia Lloyd
The Charlotte Observer
HAYMARKET, Va. — It seemed unlikely that a family pet survived when a home exploded and “instantly disintegrated” in Virginia, firefighters said.
But six days after the explosion, the sound of barking came from the rubble pile.
On Oct. 15, a private contractor replacing a water line in Haymarket accidentally struck a gas line, causing a gas leak, according to the Prince William County Fire & Rescue System.
Firefighters and the gas company arrived at the scene and began evacuating nearby homes, when one suddenly exploded, according to first responders.
The home collapsed into a pile of rubble, which then caught fire, firefighters said.
Two families comprised of six people living at the home had cleared out and no human injuries were reported, according to fire rescue, which extinguished the flames following the explosion.
But Brandy, a couple’s 6-year-old dog, was inside at the time, her owners told InsideNoVa.
“There was a lot of grieving,” Megan Schnapp told the outlet.
Then, on Oct. 21, six days after the “horrific” incident, an insurance investigator visiting the wreckage heard an unexpected sound — a dog barking, WUSA reported.
Crews returned to the scene and said they also heard the barking from underneath a collapsed part of the home.
“Firefighters were able to free the animal after about 20 minutes of deploying structure collapse stabilization shoring techniques and some good old coaxing by the home’s owner,” rescuers said. “She appeared to be in good shape and showed her happiness of being freed by rapid tail wagging.”
Lt. Mark Waldrop of the Prince William County Fire Department told WUSA9 that structural collapses can make “a void space that creates livable conditions for anything that may be trapped in there.”
He added it was “remarkable” that the dog withstood the immense water from firefighters’ efforts to extinguish the blaze, on top of surviving without food.
Firefighters said the dog is expected to recover fully.
“And now our family is complete again,” Schnapp told InsideNoVa.
The exact cause that sparked the explosion is under investigation.
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