As flames engulfed a Beaver County farmhouse early Wednesday, the Karwoski family anxiously waited to learn what happened to Dudley.
Firefighters found the family's 80-pound Vietnamese potbellied pig safe and sound, burrowed under a pile of sweatshirts in the garage along Church Road in rural Independence.

"Dudley was nervous. The firefighters thought they might have to give him oxygen. He was really wound up," Jennifer Karwoski, 30, said as Dudley, no worse for wear, slept off the morning's events in a large dog cage with a small plastic kiddie pool placed on top to ward off the rain.

The Karwoskis and their two children, Isabella, 3, and Noah, 11 months, escaped the fire that started just after 5 a.m. The family's black Labrador retriever, cat and pet turtle also made it out.





Firefighters from seven departments brought the four-alarm fire under control by 9 a.m., Independence fire Chief Dean Felgar said.

Although the walls and roof of the century-old farmhouse remained standing, a room on the second floor that housed home movies, pictures and keepsakes was destroyed. Toys on the first floor and Isabella's favorite baby blanket escaped destruction.

"That was good. She's a blanky girl. We got it out and she was fine," Jennifer Karwoski said, holding bundled, blue-eyed Isabella in her arms.

The family will stay with relatives down the road until the home is rebuilt, she said. The house was insured.

"We're still in awe. I can't believed it happened," said William Karwoski, 31, surveying the remains of the five-bedroom home that belonged to his wife's family since it was built.

As family members gathered for coffee, juice and sandwiches under a small tent, Jennifer Karwoski coaxed Dudley out of his cage with pieces of bread, cheese and lettuce. He grunted a few times, as if to say he was OK, drawing a smile from Jennifer Karwoski.

"He will eat anything. We feed him marshmallows for treats. And he loves to eat with the kids," she said.

William Karwoski speculated that the fire started inside a laundry chute. He poured pots of water on the flames.

"You had to try and do something," he said.

Jennifer Karwoski is grateful her family is safe. The house, she said, can be rebuilt.

"You watch fires on TV, and you feel for the people," she said. "But when it happens to you, it hits you hard."

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