A fire claimed the life of a dog on Friday night.

Andrew Horn, senior in marketing, lived on the second floor of the affected building, located at 2628 Hunt St, but was not home at the time of the incident.

Chelsea Reynolds, Horn’s girlfriend and a junior in pre-journalism and mass communication, said the two were at Reynolds’ apartment at the time of the fire. They were on their way to Horn’s apartment to let out their German shorthaired pointer, Arienette, and saw the smoke. By that time it was too late.

“It was like a kid to him,” Reynolds said of the dog, adding that she didn’t know how they would cope from the “surreal experience.”

“[I] guess you just pick up the pieces,” she said. “It’ll be tough.”

Paul Sandoval, deputy chief of the Ames Fire Department, said a call was received at approximately 8:40 p.m. reporting the fire.

“Upon arrival, crews found smoke coming from the building and fire on the first and second floor,” he said.

Sandoval said there was “extensive damage” on the second floor but had not evaluated the first floor at the time of the fire.

According to a press release on Saturday, the amount of damage is estimated at approximately $60,000. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

According to Sandoval, the call came in from an individual walking home who saw fire coming from the building. After he called 911, he went back to the house to warn anyone inside to get out but no one was inside.

“We believe it started up on the second floor,” he said, adding it would not be likely that anything from the second floor was salvageable.

“It’d be doubtful,” he said. “It’s pretty heavily damaged.”

Sandoval said the bulk of the fire was controlled in about an hour.

“We chased it for quite a while,” he said. “It was just a stubborn fire to chase down.”

After the fire was contained, Horn said he was thankful to those involved with putting out the fire.

“I appreciate all the hard work that the police department and the fire department put in and I’m glad nobody was hurt,” Horn said.