Watonga House Fire Leaves Man Displaced, Dogs Missing

WATONGA – A northwest Watonga neighborhood got an unexpected awakening early Friday morning when a fire ripped through a house in the middle of the block, gutting the structure and threatening others nearby.

Watonga Fire Chief Robert Daugherty said his department responded to reports of a fire on Villa Drive around 4:45 a.m. Friday morning and arrived to find the structure was already fully engulfed.

“There were numerous backyards on fire” as well, Daugherty told the Watonga Republican. Watonga Fire called for mutual aid assistance from other Blaine County departments.

“Our guys pretty quickly realized it was pretty big,” Daugherty said. His department was assisted by the Canton, Geary, Eagle City, Greenfield and Longdale fire departments, totaling perhaps 40 firefighters or more.

The fire wasn’t completely out until the late morning around 11 a.m., Daugherty said, as firefighters battled small flare-ups here and there while going through the house to salvage as many possessions as possible

Ṫhere was only one man in the home at the time, Daugherty said, and he was extracted by Watonga Police. Two dogs that were in the home have not yet been accounted for, he said.

“Nothing has been found yet, as far as in the house or around town. A few people have talked about seeing them. We’ve even went out and helped look a few times, but still haven’t located them.”

Social media posts describe the dogs as a white Westie and a silver Schnauzer named Woody and Annie.