An electrical short burned a family of five out of their Belfast Road rental home Monday.

The three teenage children were at school and Chris Cleveland and his wife were enjoying a cup of coffee at their outside picnic table when Cleveland noticed smoke coming from the roof of the home.

Cleveland ran inside to save his dog, and as he kicked open his bedroom door to remove some valuables, the flames spread through the room, according to Bush River Fire Chief Blair Long.

Long said as Cleveland left the building, he left both the front and back doors open causing oxygen to feed the fire and act like a chimney.

When firefighters from Bush River, Silverstreet, Friendly and other stations arrived on the scene, the flames had fully engulfed the old home.

The home was owned by Gilder Neel and its contents were destroyed by the blaze.

The fire started with a short to lamps on either side of the bed. Long says it appears that the head of the bed was pushed against the cord causing the short. He added that the couple noticed the lights were slow to come on when turned on that morning, but figured that was due to the florescent bulbs they were using.

“Any time you have lights that flicker, dim and brighten or act up it is a short somewhere and needs to be checked,” said Long, who is also a contractor. He adds that homes now have more and more electronic devices plugged in that can stress a house’s electrical system, resulting in more home fires due to electrical shorts.

The Red Cross is helping the family, who is staying with a relative. They reportedly had renter’s insurance.

Long also added a number of firefighters, rescue squad members, EMS and the Sheriff’s Office staff responded to the scene. He added two firefighters from Pomaria and Prosperity came to help.

Long says there is an effort to get available volunteer firefighters to respond to calls throughout the county and not worry about which stations are called.