Area resident loses home, dog to fire, then thief steals ATV

Charles Rees's house burned down. His dog died. And his four wheeler was stolen. All in a span of three days.

A bright, glowing light woke Diana Hunter. She raised from bed and looked out the window. Hunter saw the porch enveloped in flames.

She rushed to a room where Rees, her brother, was sleeping and woke him up. After Hunter told him the porch was on fire, he grabbed a fire extinguisher. He couldn't get the extinguisher to work, but it didn't matter. The fire was too much for the extinguisher to quench the flames.

Rees grabbed the phone and darted out of the front door with his sister. Neither was hurt, but they could feel the heat from the fire on the porch.

He called 911 and rural firefighters responded 15 minutes later. But his 1,800 square feet house at 959 Yale Road in northwest Bourbon County quickly burned down.

An exact dollar amount of the two-story house and its contents hasn't been determined.

The fire happened around 3 a.m. Nov. 21.

Rees suspects that the whole incident happened this way: It apparently started when a bolt of lightening struck a tree, he said. Fire from the tree caught Hunter's Honda CRV on fire, which was parked near the tree. Fire from the vehicle then jumped to the porch. Rees said it was the combination of the tree and vehicle that caused the porch to ignite.

Hunter and Rees escaped unharmed, but his rat terrier, Jake, died in the blaze. Jake would've been 2 years old in January.

"It was so hectic at the time that once we got out of the house," Rees said on Wednesday. "When we got outside, I was like "where's Jake." I guess it's my fault(he didn't get out)."

Not only did Rees lose his dog and home, his four-wheeler was stolen on Nov. 23, two days after the fire.

The Bombardier four-wheeler, valued between $4,000-5,000, was located under a metal canopy near the house.

Rees wants it back. He's offering a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the recovery of the machine. It's camouflage colored. It has less than 500 miles.

If anyone has information regarding the vehicle, contact the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office at (620) 223-1440.

Rees said a set of ramps were missing, which leads him to believe the thieves may have used a truck to load the four-wheeler.

"There's nothing much lower than someone stealing from someone after they've lost everything," Rees said.

Rees is currently living in a house a friend has loaned him.