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An Uber driver became an unexpected hero when he abruptly stopped mid-ride to assist during a fire, rushing into a burning house where a woman was frantically trying to find her dog.
The upper floor of a home in Cloverdale was engulfed in flames shortly after 9 a.m., causing chaos and fear over the missing pet. A desperate voice could be heard in the background of a video from the scene, shouting, “The dog is in there!” as the townhouse on Middleton Street was consumed by fire.
Inderjit Singh, the quick-thinking Uber driver, was en route with a passenger when he noticed the billowing smoke.
“I just asked my customer if I could go inside and check what was happening,” Singh recounted. “She said it was OK.”
“I just told my customer, ‘can I go inside and check what is happening there?’ She told it’s OK,” Singh said.
“When I just went there, I saw a big flame inside there.”
The passenger called triple zero as Singh ran inside.
A woman was screaming in the darkness, looking for her dog.
“I don’t know if the dog is inside. I think someone is inside too,” Singh said.
Fire crews working nearby were on the scene in minutes, “even before a triple zero call had been made”, WA Fire managing director Gareth Deeg said.
The 54-year-old resident was treated at the scene by paramedics for smoke inhalation.
The dog, named Prada, was found hiding in a downstairs room.
The owner, too distraught to speak on camera, said her home of seven years was uninsured and she didn’t know where she would sleep tonight.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.