Dog helps save the day for Greendale church

Greendale - If every dog has its day, then Kirby's was Christmas.

That's the day the 10-year-old pooch, part border collie and part Australian cattle dog, became a hero - if a reluctant one.

Kirby, a rescue dog who belongs to Fred Saunders of Greendale, was just doing what he does naturally. It was early morning, and nature called.

Saunders took him to the back yard, and that's when Saunders noticed the flashing fire alarms inside St. Alphonsus Parish and School, 6060 W. Loomis Road. There was no smoke and no fire, but Saunders nonetheless called the Police Department's nonemergency number.

Within minutes, Saunders said, squads and fire trucks were on the scene, fighting an early morning fire that caused $200,000 worth of damage to the building.

The state fire marshal was on the scene, as were about 50 firefighters from neighboring fire departments, but no cause has been determined. No one was in the building at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported.

Saunders isn't sure Kirby's deserving of the attention he has been getting from church officials and staff, which gave him a bag of biscuits and a chew toy when Kirby visited the scene last Thursday. "He didn't want to go out," Saunders said.

But the Rev. Alan Jurkus thinks otherwise. In a posting on the church's website, Jurkus wrote: "I want to thank a neighborhood dog named Kirby. As I understand it, if not for him, his owner would not have seen the alarm lights. and would not have called in the alarm. I have been told that if the fire had not been reported for 10 more minutes, the fire would have destroyed much of our buildings."

The fire rendered the church worship space unusable, and cleanup crews estimate it won't be ready for Mass for at least eight weeks.

Smoke caused damage to 17 classrooms, extending winter break for students. Students were to return Friday.

St. Alphonsus Parish has a membership of about 2,783 families, and about 400 students attend the school.