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Newly released bodycam video shows a Round Lake Heights police officer rescuing a family’s dog from a house fire earlier this month.
The Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District and the Round Lake Heights Police Department responded around 5:05 p.m. August 17 to the 2300 block of Iroquois Lane in Round Lake Heights for a report of a structure fire.
A bodycam video released Monday shows Round Lake Heights Police Officer Forrest Bruchert, who is a part-time police officer and full-time firefighter, enter into the house through the garage.
Officer Bruchert called out for the family’s dog, Ellie, as heavy smoke and flames were engulfing the inside of the home. Ellie ran towards the officer, who grabbed the dog and handed it to a family friend waiting in the garage.
Firefighters arrived and found heavy flames showing from the rear of the home. The fire began to spread to the rest of the house from the deck and crews worked for 30 minutes to get the fire under control.
The family of five was not home at the time of the fire.
“Jen, Russ, and their three children were thankfully out of the house when it happened. We are all thankful they’re safe but everything they own is gone,” Stephanie Altman, a relative of the family, said in a GoFundMe post.
The GoFundMe account has already raised more than $5,000 for the family, who lost nearly everything in the fire. The home is uninhabitable and a cause for the fire has not been released yet.
Firefighters from Lake Villa, Countryside, Grayslake, Wauconda and McHenry also responded to the scene.