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Family says barking dog saved them from fire

A Galva family is forced to pick up the pieces after a fire Wednesday night completely destroyed their home.

A Galva family is forced to pick up the pieces after a fire Wednesday night completely destroyed their home.

Patrick and Carol Koga and their three children were all able to get out of the house in time but unfortunately all of the family pets were not as lucky.

“We lost my 4 cats and a bird died too,” Carol tearfully says. “It’s going to be a lot of picking up and trying to put things together.”

The fire spread through the house at 803 S.E. 2nd street in Galva around eight last night.  It took two crews fighting it for four hours.  Investigators say the fire spread from the back porch and grew quickly due to the six oxygen tanks in the house.

Carol, who is uses oxygen for her health says that was always a worry of hers.

“That was always my fear with having these in the house what if there is a fire and they went boom.”

Patrick, who is an ordained minister and a teacher at Heritage Christian School in Eldridge and his family are now trying to move forward.  They have completely lost everything.  The front ends of their two cars even burned from the heat of the fire.

Heritage Christian School and Wells Fargo are collecting donations through the Patrick Koga Benefit Fund.

There is no word yet on how much insurance will cover.   Investigators are still looking for a cause.

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