An elderly widow died Saturday in a Michigan house fire after she tried to save her trapped dog — which was “his world” — just before it broke out.
Witnesses said 81-year-old John Barkevich and his dog died in the burning house around 11 a.m. after neighbors tried to valiantly rescue them but were unable to escape the intense flames. .
A thunderous explosion shook the Roseville neighborhood, and flames soon engulfed the home.
“I'm hearing screaming coming from my street right now,” said neighbor Jeremy Scobler. he told WXYZ.
Skobler told the station that Barkevich initially got out of the house safely, but was unable to leave his 5-year-old rescue dog, Lexi, behind.
“He called for his dog,” Stacey Krause, the fire victim's daughter, told WXYZ. “That dog was his world. He loved her so much.”
“We are ruins. It's one of the things we prepare for when our parents die one day,” she said.
“But we're not prepared for them to go through like this.”
The man's wife, Marin, reportedly suffered from a brain tumor and died of a heart attack in 2020.
Memorabilia such as family photos and a memorial to Maryn survived the fire, but her family hopes her ashes can be recovered from the wreckage.
“We hope (firefighters) can find it as they move through the rubble,” Krause told the station.
