2 dogs were trapped on a porch in Hilton Head house fire. How they were rescued
A ladder left in the backyard of the Hilton Head home that caught on fire was key to saving the pets trapped on an elevated back porch, according to a police report.
Just hours after a vehicle smashed into the front of delisheeyo, a vegetarian restaurant owned by Blake and Maddie Wearren, the couple’s home on Marshland Road suffered “very extensive damage” from a fire. Eventually, fire crews declared the home a “total loss.”
Police ruled there was no connection between the series of events that rocked the Wearren family on Dec. 21, just days before Christmas. And if it wasn’t for a ladder being left in the yard instead of the garage, the family’s three pets might not have survived.
How the dogs were rescued from the fire
Just before 11 a.m., a deputy noticed smoke rising while sitting in a patrol vehicle near the intersection of Marshland Road and Leg O Mutton Road.
When coming around the corner, the officer saw smoke coming from the top floor windows and requested backup. The officer climbed the set of stairs on the side of the house to what they assumed was the front door. Eventually, after yelling to see if anyone was inside, the officer opened the door only to see a billowing cloud of black smoke.
Dispatch was notified that the second floor of the home was fully engulfed in smoke as additional deputies arrived. A neighbor told deputies that the couples’ dogs were believed to be on the home’s elevated back porch.
Using a support beam and a nearby ladder, deputies accessed the second-floor porch. One deputy reported that a Christmas tree inside the home was on fire. A cat was able to escape through a rear sliding door, jumping safely from the porch. Deputies then rescued two dogs from the porch area, lowering them down the ladder and handing them to neighbors.
Blake Wearren said the ladder “should have been in the garage,” but he’d left it out after using it for some gardening two weeks prior. The couple had left the sliding door open since the day before had been a “nice day.”
“And that was the only reason the dogs made it out,” Wearren said.
This story was originally published December 30, 2025 at 10:56 AM.
