"If Juno hadn't barked, we would have suffocated"
Created: 07/01/2023, 07:00
Uninhabitable: The house after the fire.
©CS
A family from Holzkirchner lost their belongings in a fire on New Year's Day.
She owes it to Juno that she was able to save herself outside in time: The male dog barked at the residents of the house while they were sleeping.
Now committed people from Holzkirchner are helping with the new beginning.
Holzkirchen – The shock is still deep: on New Year’s morning around 5.30 a.m., the Meder family’s Auf der Höh house burned down completely (we reported).
Although the Meders and their four children between the ages of eleven and 20 stayed with their grandparents, who live in the neighborhood, their entire household effects - furniture, winter jackets, crockery, bedding, computers - were destroyed in the accident.
"Our refrigerator melted like honey in the heat," says Barbara Meder.
The family bought a new fridge just six months ago.
After all: Because Barbara Meder had not yet cleared the fresh laundry from the laundry cellar into the cupboards, the family is not completely without clothes - the flames did not reach the cellar.
In addition to the material loss, there is trauma: "We're not doing well," says Barbara Meder, "we had to watch our house burn." Her eldest daughter, who is studying, has difficulty concentrating on her seminar work.
"She's totally upset."
Only four family members were home at the time of the fire.
"We slept," Meder recalls.
Until Juno's barking woke her up.
The Bosnian street dog has been living with the Meders for seven years - he is part of the family.
In his basket near the front door, Juno was the first to notice the flames outside.
As reported, the fire had spread from a garden shed to the wooden facade of the adjacent residential building within a few minutes.
Meder got up to see what was going on.
"I saw an unbelievably bright glow, as if spotlights were shining on our house." At the same time, she heard a noise that she couldn't explain at first.
"It was the fire," Meder knows today, "that's what it sounds like when it's burning." The 52-year-old can't answer exactly when she made the emergency call, who of her family members woke her up first.
"It all happened so quickly and somehow went hand in hand." The family escaped through the patio door into the garden.
Juno, two cats and the rabbits of the Medes also survived the accident.
But for Tiger, the third cat, any help came too late.
"When we found Tiger, he was lying there as if he was sleeping.
He hid and then suffocated.” Meder adds, “If Juno hadn't barked, we would have suffocated too.”
An experience that takes time to process.
Barbara Meder is grateful that she experiences a lot of willingness to help.
"It's wonderful how people react, the neighbors immediately offered us coffee and something to eat." Alois Harrasser, lifeguard at Batusa, where Barbara Meder runs baby swimming courses, helped with the cleaning up.
“It feels really good,” says Meder.
On the initiative of a dedicated Holzkirchner, the “Holzkirchen hilft” association set up a donation account for the Meders.
The family has no household insurance.
Not out of recklessness.
Rather, she assumed that she was covered by her fire protection insurance.
What many are not aware of: This insures damage to the building, but not goods in the house.
Particularly painful for the children of the Meders: ski equipment, sleds, bicycles and other equipment belonging to the family, who is active in sports and volunteers with the mountain rescue service, were burned in the garden house.
"We would be very happy if we could use the donations to get sports equipment for our four children," says Meder.
It is her wish that donations that exceed her needs go to the bird of prey sanctuary in Otterfing.
Donation account:
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Account holder: Holzkirchen hilft eV
Bank: HypoVereinsbank Munich.
IBAN: DE45 7002 0270 6440 2226 66. BIC: HYVEDEMMXXX.
Password: Meder (must be specified).
Be sure to include the donor address if you require a donation receipt.
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