MASON, Ohio -- A man died in a house fire early Thursday morning at 312 W. Church St., Mason Fire Department officials said.
Jessica Black lived next door to her uncle, 77-year-old Clyde Isaacs, who died in the fire at about 4 a.m. Thursday.
"I think I'm still in shock," she said. "It still feels kind of nightmarish, like just wake up and it'll be over."
#BREAKING Mason Fire officials confirms one person has died after a house fire on West Church Street. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/HeqU5LuY45
— Ally Kraemer (@AllyKraemer) May 11, 2017
The fire extensively damaged the first-floor bedroom and kitchen. Black also said Isaac's dog Sport also died in the fire.
"It was just him and his dog," Black said. "Everybody just knew him and his dog. Everybody knew who he was because he was always walking through town with Sport."
Sport is actually the reason Isaacs survived a fire a few years back.
"He lived in a trailer actually in Southern Kentucky and it caught fire, I believe in the middle of the night, same kind of a similar situation," Black said. "But his dog actually alerted him to the fire and he was able to get out through a window."
Isaacs was in the early stages of dementia, family members said, so they moved him next door and put in precautions to save him in case of another fire.
"We had actually strobing smoke detectors," Black said. "He was kind of hard of hearing so we put those in in hopes that if there was a problem, he would see the strobes and be able to get out, but he had to have been sleeping."
The state fire marshal was on scene to investigate the cause of the fire.
