A fund has been set up for anyone wishing to help Micheal Mitchell and Elizabeth Douglas with their expenses following a fire Saturday at their rural Great Bend home, located at 10 SE 20 Road. Donations can be made to the Elizabeth Douglas Funds Account at People’s Bank and Trust in Great Bend, Ellinwood, Lyons or Otis.

Micheal Mitchell said he and other family members went to bed last Friday night after a storm knocked out the power. They woke up Saturday morning to find the house on fire.

He said the cause of the fire had not been determined as of Wednesday. “They think lightning hit the house and maybe something surged when the power came on,” he said.

Four people and 10 pets – including a four-foot-long American alligator – were in the house and all but one escaped, Mitchell said Tuesday. His 10-year-old pet squirrel named Sativa died.

Mitchell and his fiancee Elizabeth Douglas bought the house last November, he said. They were there last Saturday, Aug. 5, along with Micheal’s 21-year-old daughter, Alicia Mitchell, and Alicia’s fiance, David Koba.

Mitchell also has two younger children and Douglas has three, but they were not in the house as all of them were on camping trips.

“We went to bed and woke up to the house burning down,” Mitchell said. Great Bend Fire Department logged the call at 5:37 a.m.

“We pretty much lost everything but we saved 13 out of 14 lives,” he said. That includes the four people who were in the house at the time, three cats, one dog, two rats, a cockatoo, an iguana and the alligator, named “Mick” after the title character in the movie “Crocodile Dundee.” 

Some of the rescued pets are being kept at the Golden Belt Humane Society, while the alligator and iguana are being housed at the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo. Mitchell’s Cane Corso-breed dog named Tank is staying with his mother.

Koba was sleeping in the basement and was the first to be awakened by the smell of smoke. Alicia Mitchell was downstairs and after he awakened her, she came running upstairs to wake up the couple.

“We got Elizabeth and Alicia out first,” Mitchell said. Then he and his future son-in-law went back to save the rest of the animals.

“I want everyone to know he’s a hero,” Mitchell said of Koba, a sergeant at Fort Riley who is also taking aviation courses at K-State. “He ran into the fire with me.”

“I had to run into the house to get my dog,” he said. Tank ran under a heavy bed to hide and Mitchell ended up flipping the bed over, attaching a leash and carrying the dog from the house, stopping near the doorway for the last pet, Apollo the cockatoo.

He said the bedroom wall was a glowing orange from the heat of the fire and he walked through smoke to exit the house. As he did, one of the four cars in the attached garage exploded. The garage was a total loss. Mitchell said the house also had extensive fire damage throughout.

Firefighters rescued two cats. Mitchell said he resuscitated one of them, a rag-doll cat named Scoop.

Alicia Mitchell and Koba spent a day in the hospital, under observation for smoke inhalation.

Family members are staying at the Super 8 in Great Bend.

There is insurance but a fund has been set up for anyone wishing to help with their expenses. Donations can be made to the Elizabeth Douglas Funds Account at People’s Bank and Trust in Great Bend, Ellinwood, Lyons or Otis.

The Great Bend Fire Department on Monday reported that the structure fire had resulted in the loss of four cars and the destruction of the garage. Mitchell said the house is also a total loss, with extensive damage from fire, heat and water.

Firefighters were conducting training this week and Fire Chief Brent Smith could not be reached for additional information.

This story was updated Wednesday to correct the name of David Koba, fiance to Alicia Mitchell, and to add  more information.