An Oakland man said he could “feel his body cooking” while he and his brother-in-law rescued his sister and the couple’s 15-year-old son from flames that destroyed their mobile home early Saturday on Webb Road in Oakland.

Melissa Pike says her brother, Michael Bagley, 46, and her husband, Charles McIntyre, deserve medals for saving her and Dakota Pike from the fire.

“My brother Michael ran through the kitchen where the fire was, going to my bedroom where I was, to save me,” Pike, 41, said Tuesday from Maine Medical Center in Portland. “Michael told me yesterday that going back through that fire to save me, he could feel and hear his body cooking as he was running through the kitchen.”

While her brother was rushing to get her out of the burning home, Pike said her husband pulled their son “right over the couch to get him out because Dakota had lost contact in the smoke and he was frightened.”

“Charles was yelling for him, ‘Follow my voice. My arms are out. Reach out and grab my arms,’ and when he felt his arms, he grabbed him and ripped him right over the couch and out the door.”

McIntyre, 42, and Dakota Pike were taken to Maine Medical Center with second-degree burns on their faces, arms, legs and backs. They remained there recovering Tuesday.

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The family was asleep when the fire started about 4:30 a.m. Saturday in the kitchen.

Melissa Pike said her son, who is mentally disabled, woke up to the sound of a smoke detector and when he opened the door to his room, it filled up with smoke. When his father opened an outside door, the living room became engulfed in smoke and he lost sight of Dakota, she said.

“That’s when he got scared and he yelled, ‘I can’t see you, Dad. I can’t see you,'” Melissa Pike said.

She said their dog and five cats were unaccounted for Tuesday. Her daughter, who lives nearby, goes to the mobile home a couple times each day to call for the dog, named Buddy, but he hasn’t come.

Oakland Fire Chief David Coughlin said an electrical wiring problem in the kitchen caused the fire. He said investigators from the Office of the State Fire Marshal ruled the fire accidental.

Fire crews from Belgrade, Sidney, Rome and Smithfield assisted at the scene, as did Delta Ambulance, Oakland police and Central Maine Power Co.

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Pike said she spent two nights, including Tuesday, at the Ronald McDonald House in Portland. She said the family had renter’s insurance to cover their belongings lost in the fire. The American Red Cross is helping the family.

She said Dakota plays on the Unified Basketball Team at Messalonskee High School in Oakland.

The Unified Basketball Team dedicated its Tuesday afternoon game against Cony to the family and set out a donation can at the door for them, according to coach Tommy Hill. Teammates also made a poster for Dakota Pike that included his name and team number – 01 – a reference to his love of the “Dukes of Hazzard” TV show.

“The kids did a nice job, and they are thinking of him,” Hill said Tuesday night. “We’re all doing the best we can to help out. Dakota is such a happy-go-lucky young man.”

 


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