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Adopted dogs perish in fire after alerting family to danger
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Jerry Henkel/Las Vegas Review-Journal
John Headley, his wife, Brenda, center, and his mother-in-law, Rita Scantlen, left, gather what is left of their belongings Friday in a driveway next to their burned-out home in Las Vegas. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
John Headley's guardian angels had paws, not wings.
Headley was sleeping in his recreational vehicle early Friday morning when his canine companions jolted him out of his slumber.
Pitiful, a 4-pound Chihuahua that typically snoozed while curled up next to Headley's noggin, was yelping, while Baby Doll, a 40-pound pit bull that nuzzled up to Headley's feet every night, was barking and jumping against the RV's window. Headley looked out and saw a fire near his house.
"I saw really bad flames," Headley said. "Baby Doll was going crazy. I've never seen her act like that."
Headley immediately called his wife from his cellphone and told her to get out of the burning house.
He ran out of his RV, which was parked behind a second RV at the side of his home, near Rancho Drive and Cheyenne Boulevard.
Headley's son and his girlfriend were in the second trailer. Neither of the RVs was on fire then, Headley said.
That is when he decided to leave Baby Doll and Pitiful behind and waited for four people to make it out of the two-story home. Six more dogs also had to be collected.
One of Headley's house guests, a 62-year-old man with cancer, was still in the home after everyone else had made it out safely.
Headley headed inside and helped the man out of the home on a half-acre lot.
Headley looked toward the RVs and saw a terrifying sight. The RV next to his was in flames. Headley's son, his son's girlfriend, and their dog, a pit bull named Sativa, managed to get out safely.
Baby Doll and Pitiful were still in Headley's RV. He opened the RV's door and saw flames.
"I took one breath, I couldn't take another one," Headley said. "I just took my pups and got the hell out of there."
Baby Doll and Pitiful died from smoke inhalation, Headley said.
Headley recalled his family's tragic morning Friday afternoon outside his burned house. The smell of smoke still lingered in the air.
Headley said he and his family lost all their possessions and the two trailers. But he didn't care about that.
"I don't give an (expletive) about the house," Headley said. "I just lost my two puppy dogs."
Tim Szymanski, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Fire Department, said Headley's son, his girlfriend and their dog had to escape through a rear window. He said that much like Pitiful and Baby Doll, Sativa raised the alarm during the fire.
"Those two people, they were like 6 feet from the fire," Szymanski said. "If that dog wasn't there, they probably would have gone into a coma from breathing up deadly gasses, and they would have burned up."
Headley's son was visiting from Reno.
Szymanski said the blaze began in the son's RV. It spread to the second-story of the home. At one point, the flames were as high as 50 feet, Szymanski said. Damage was estimated at $200,000.
Szymanski said the cause was undetermined Friday afternoon.
Neighbors called firefighters to alert them to the 6:24 a.m. blaze, which was extinguished by 7:12 a.m.
Headley, 67, wore a cowboy hat and boots. He had a holstered gun on one hip and wore a knife on the other. He spoke with a thick Southern twang.
Six of Headley's dogs survived the fire. He had a story about all of them.
Prissy, short for Priscilla, is a pit bull and Labrador mix who loves to chase tennis balls. Sassy was Baby Doll's mother.
Headley dotes on his pets. Most of them had been abused or abandoned before he adopted them.
He recalled how Pitiful, although the smallest of the bunch, had no problem biting the pit bulls. And the much bigger pit bulls would back down from the feisty Chihuahua, Headley said.
Headley slept in his trailer because his wife, Brenda, is handicapped and found it painful to sleep together.
Brenda Headley said her husband is despondent over the loss of the dogs.
"He feels like he killed them because he didn't leave the trailer door open when he came out," she said.
John Headley was sure he and his family would be dead if it weren't for the two dogs. And he defiantly questioned whether they were in a better place.
Although all dogs might go to heaven, he is sure his four-legged friends miss him as much as he misses them.
"They're not in a better place," Headley said. "The best place was with me."
Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.
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Not Asleep At The Wheel, They could have a dog fancier permit.
Sad to see and hear this story. I would care more for the animals before I would care for some of the scourge that stalk people on the streets. Why couldn't those scum have perished and the dogs be allowed to live?
fakefurr you are so correct on that. When I get a few extra minutes I have been trying to get in touch with animal control in Henderson but there is always an answering machine stating they are on the line or helping someone else. I do not want to burden the police department but if Henderson cut the animal control budget someone needs to move in next to a city council person and let that dog bark all day and night and we will see if the budget is reconsidered. Budget people need to be forward looking and have a minimum of common sense.
Smells like barbecued dog hair.
Sad. I found a lapdog roaming the streets a couple of years ago and no shelter would even answer the phone.
This tragedy is only going to compound for this family. Anilmal control will now step in and impound the other six pets because stupid people who makes laws in Clark County and Las Vegas have decreed that you may not have more than 3 pets and they must be spayed or neutered. Now these loved and well cared for pets will be thrown into a cold unfriendly environment while the owners will be fined for having them. IF.. they are allowed to keep 3, they will have to pay for getting them fixed first, and the remaining 3 will probably lose their lives in the pound.
These kind of laws do nothing to deter people who abuse animals, and only punish those who love and want to help those often abused pets live a good life.
I saw this on the news last night. Very sad. The oldtimer is very lucky
Sad story. These weren't "pets", they were family members!! I know he didn't want to put himself and his family at risk. In most local jurisdictions it is illegal to occupy RVs or accessory structures because of the potential for danger. It's fortunate this wasn't a greater tragedy.
So sad to hear about the dogs that perished. But, they really may have saved the rest of the people and pets. Good caring man that does what he does for those dogs. Alot of people are just getting by and you shouldn't judge too harsh. I'm sure he didn't think that the RV would be in flames-most of us would have done the same. Idiots that make comments on stories that are not their concern are really making a..holes of themselves. Sorry about your puppies!