GEORGETOWN, Texas — Editor's note: On Aug. 26, KVUE confirmed that Bill Heiner died as a result of the burns he sustained after running back inside his home to save his family's dog.
Previous reporting:
A recreational vehicle park in Georgetown is the place Pamela Heiner is currently calling home. It's a temporary situation after her family's home on Cherry Hollow Crossing in Leander caught fire and was destroyed earlier this month.
"It's just been a blur," Pamela Heiner said. "The place is special to us because it was our first home that we bought, and we've been there our whole married life."
Pamela Heiner and her husband, Bill, were in bed on Aug. 1 when they smelled smoke. She said the smoke was already so thick, they could not see.
"I climbed over the balcony and was just like, hanging onto the balcony. And I was trying to get my husband to come with me and he said, 'Go, just go call for help,'" Heiner said. "By the time I got back, he was already out ... he had been burned. He had gone back in for our dog."
Their dog is a 7-year-old terrier named Star, who they rescued from the Williamson County Animal Shelter.
"It just meant everything to him that he would, that he could bring this dog from being scared of everybody into a loving home," Heiner said.
While their dog was not injured, her husband was.
"They told me once we got there that he had been burned significantly over, you know, the top third of his torso, his head, his face. His back got the worst of it," Heiner said. "So he's looking at several months in the hospital."
As Heiner stays confident in the strength her husband shows, she's focused on reclaiming her home with full knowledge it's more than just a physical building.
"I think he will survive. I won't think of anything else right now, and I just won't go there," Heiner said. "My home is myself and my husband and my dog. And we're still a family – we're just all in different places right now."
A GoFundMe page has been created to help the Heiner family clean up their old home and to purchase new furniture, appliances and more. The total donation goal is $7,500.