Onlookers cheered as Andrene Bean brought her pet dog safely out of her burning apartment today.

The house fire at an apartment on Court Street brought Ms Bean scrambling from her job after her mother, Pansy, called her to say her house was on fire.

Fortunately, she said, her children were in school, but onlookers on Court Street cheered as she came out into the street carrying her pet Pomeranian, who was in the home when the blaze broke out. The dog was unhurt.

"My entire upstairs has been gutted. Everything is gone. I've got three kids and right now I'm just trying to see if I can get some clothes for them.

"The den area, where the dog was, that's the only area that wasn't burned. We've lost part of the roof too.

"My mother found the fire. She had just knocked off from Sylvia Richardson and come home. She heard a loud bang and saw the smoke and when she opened the front door the flames came gushing out at her.

"She called me and said the house was on fire, and I just said, what? I couldn't believe it. I was just in shock. And I was panicking, worrying about my dog; there was no-one else at home.

"I left work at the hospital and went over there one time. They would not let us get anywhere close to it.

"My mother's still in shock but she's fine. She deals with stuff her own way.

"We just added a new bedroom and den area a few years ago. The insurance company is going to put us up in the Rosedon over the weekend, but that's just until Monday.

"The insurance company is saying the house is under-insured. We never redid the policy after the place was fixed up."