Great story and pcitures, Baden, and thanks for taking me along.
The fire strikes me as possibly suspicious with smoke from so many different areas of the building when the brigade arrived. Alternatively, the children had been fooling about with matches or candles. (I have concerns whether the two children were old enough to have been left alone without supervision. In the UK, children unde 14 can't be left alone with supervision by someone older.)
But the dog? What happened to the dog?