"Dave was a great guy:" 43-year-old man dies in Germantown house fire

GERMANTOWN (WITI) -- A father of three is dead after an apartment fire in Germantown. The home on Legend Avenue was engulfed in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 11th. Officials released the name of the victim on Monday, April 13th -- he is 43-year-old David Umhoefer.

The shell of a home was full of smoke noticed by the keen senses of young Duke.

"I'm just thankful for my puppy being instinctive," said Adam Vanroo, victim's friend and neighbor.

Vanroo woke up to his dog Duke barking around 3:45 a.m. Saturday morning and knew something was wrong.

"I saw and smelled smoke. From where I tried to find out what was going on, I opened the front door and saw flames coming from his picture window which I grabbed the fire extinguisher and tried to put out whatever fire I could see," said Vanroo.

Vanroo called 911. Firefighters arriving found the fire in a smoldering stage and made a grim discovery.

"During the primary search within about a minute, located a victim in the kitchen, they removed him through the front door. He was in cardiac arrest, had no pulse, and was not breathing -- transported to Commit Memorial Hospital where he succeeded to smoke inhalation," said Germantown Fire Chief, Gary Weiss.

Vanroo says the victim was a close friend for the past 5 years.

"Dave was a great guy, Dave was charismatic, and happy and free," said Vanroo.

He grieves as he looks at the charred remains in disbelief.

"I think I'm numb right now. I miss my best friend," Vanroo said.

The victim's home is destroyed, the fire damage was contained to the apartment on one side. The neighbor's adjacent home was not affected and his smoke alarms never went off.

Meanwhile, Vanroo credits his other best friend for helping save his life.

"It was smoldering for quite some time. Who knew without the dog how long would have sat there or if I would have gotten out at all," said Vanroo.

Officials believe the fire may have started in the living room, but the state fire marshal is still investigating.

Meanwhile, the victim's official cause of death is being looked into by the medical examiner's office.