An elderly widower died Saturday in a Michigan house fire trying to save his trapped pooch — who was “his world” — after initially fleeing the deadly flames moments earlier.
John Balkevitch, 81, and his dog both perished inside the burning house around 11 a.m. after neighbors attempting their own heroic rescue couldn’t get past the fierce flames, witnesses said.
A thunderous explosion shook the Roseville neighborhood and flames quickly engulfed the house.
“I just heard some screaming coming down from my street,” neighbor Jeremy Skobler told WXYZ.
Skobler told the station that Balkevitch originally got out of the house safely, but couldn’t leave behind his 5-year-old rescue dog, Lexie.
“He went in for his dog,” the fire victim’s daughter, Stacie Krause, told WXYZ. “That dog was his world. He loved her so much.”
“We’re a wreck. It’s one of those things you prepare for, your parents passing one day,” she also said.
“But you don’t prepare for them passing like this.”
The man’s wife, Marylyn, reportedly died in 2020 of a heart attack as she suffered from brain cancer.
While mementos like family photos and a memorial plaque for Marylyn survived the blaze, the family hopes her ashes are recovered from the wreckage.
“We’re hoping (firefighters) find them when they go through the rubble,” Krause told the station.