Local
Mt. Washington Apartment Fire Displaces Four Families; One Resident Lost His Dog While Trying to Save Him
A Thursday night electrical fire in Mt. Washington displaced four families and killed a resident's dog, Azul, as the man crawled through smoke to try to rescue him. The landlord blames a faulty outlet, while the fire department says the cause remains under investigation.
MOUNT WASHINGTON, Ky. â Four families were displaced Thursday night after an apartment fire tore through a building in Mount Washington, and one resident lost his dog while trying to rescue the animal from the flames.
Eli Hudson said he was walking to his car when he glanced up at his apartment window, where his dog Azul usually waited behind the curtains. This time, the window looked dark.
"I look up and everything was real dark," Hudson said. "Couldn't really see inside. So I was like, 'I think my house is on fire.'"
After spotting flames and smoke coming from his unit, Hudson ran back inside and crawled through the apartment searching for Azul. The dog did not survive.
"All I could think about was Azul," Hudson said. "I didn't care if I got hurt or anything really. That was my best friend. He got me through so much in life â bad times, hard times."
Even after failing to save his dog, Hudson pounded on his neighbors' doors and helped them get out safely. No injuries were reported.
The landlord told reporters the fire began because of an electrical problem with an outlet. The Mount Washington Fire Department said the official cause is still under investigation.
Hudson is staying with a friend while he decides what to do next. When he returned to the building to see whether anything could be salvaged, he found one area that appeared untouched by the flames â the spot where Azul was found.
"The spot where they found them is, it's perfectly clean," Hudson said. "Just got a little ring around where he was."
Hudson said he has received more than 200 messages from friends, family members and strangers offering help. The four displaced families are accepting donations as they recover.
Electrical failures remain a leading cause of residential fires nationally, and older apartment buildings can pose particular risks when wiring and outlets degrade. Local housing advocates have urged renters to report flickering lights, scorched outlets or burning smells to landlords and to keep renters insurance where possible.
Donations for the affected families are being collected through an online fundraising page.