Firefighter injured, dog killed in NH house fire

A fire broke out Wednesday afternoon, destroying a home on Scotland Road in Kingston, New Hampshire

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A violent house fire in Kingston, New Hampshire, left a dog dead and sent a firefighter to the hospital.

The fire broke out Wednesday afternoon at a home on Scotland Road. Flames could be seen shooting out of the roof as fire crews worked.

While the fire was extinguished Wednesday night, the house is a total loss. The family, which has been living there since 1976, is devastated.

"My boyfriend actually called me and was like, 'Your house is on fire.' I was like, 'What do you mean?'" recalled Krystina Gursky.

She says she was out around 5 p.m. when she got the call.

"It was engulfed," she said. "My parents' house is gone."

Multiple animals were rescued from the property, but one dog didn't survive.

"Probably five or six dogs were in the building, and they all came out, either in crates or on their own," said Assistant Chief Kent Walker of the Kingston Fire Department. "There was a goat that just left the scene."

A firefighter had to be taken to Exeter Hospital.

"It was a medical event, he went down, and we had to perform CPR on that firefighter, get the ambulance very close, and then honestly, 15 feet away, we still had a structure fire, right in the middle of a medical event," Walker said. "The firefighter was transported to the hospital and he is doing well right now."

The family is grateful for the quick and heavy response from multiple fire departments, but is also trying to process the unbelievable loss.

"To watch your house get ripped up by an excavator is an awful lot," Gursky said. "That was probably the most gut-wrenching thing to watch, was just them pulling everything down."

The family is being assisted by the Red Cross Wednesday night.

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