Westbrook ― Samantha Betulia's 18-month-old son, Sal, was sleeping in his nursery room last Wednesday while she worked in another room, when her dog Penny Lane ran up the stairs whining, she said.

Betulia said she figured a delivery person was dropping off a package, until she checked security cameras and saw her garage was on fire.

"I just immediately got up, called 911, picked up my son," Betulia said. "As I picked up my son, our smoke alarm started going off because the smoke was coming in the house, which is why my dog came up the stairs, because she was scared."

She said once she got her son outside to safety, she placed him on the front lawn and ran back inside for her beloved dogs, Harley and Penny Lane. Harley was safely rescued but Penny was nowhere to be found and died in the fire, Betulia said.

"Thirty seconds later, the entire staircase went up in flames and we just kind of ran up the driveway," Betulia said. "My other dog was later found in my son's room (by firefighters). That was Penny."

Betulia said Penny, a nearly 5-year-old Labrador retriever mix, alerted her just in time and saved her, her baby and Harley.

Within minutes of escaping the Fishing Brook Road residence, Betulia said she watched her family's home since November 2022 go up in flames.

She said she and her husband "always kind of wanted to live down on a shoreline and Westbrook is the perfect fit for us," she said. "We love Westbrook."

A GoFundMe was started by a family friend shortly after the Betulia family lost their home. In a week, the fundraiser raised more than $50,000, more than double the initial goal.

"Everyone, thank you so much for taking the time to send messages of love and for your extremely generous donations for Sam and Jimmy!" the organizer wrote in an update on April 4. "Your kindness speaks volumes, more than you know!"

Betulia said that through the devastation of losing Penny and her home, she was "beyond grateful" for the support she has received from the community.

"We are so grateful for everyone that has stepped up for us and gone out of their way to whether it's donate to the GoFundMe, or drop off clothes and toys for my son, and dog treats for my dog," she said. "We're just overwhelmed, in a good way."

While Westbrook Fire Marshal John Flaherty has not made an official determination on the cause of the fire, he is considering ruling it as undetermined, he said Wednesday. "It's kind of complex as far as investigating it to try to narrow it down," he said.

Flaherty is looking at the area where lithium batteries for power tools were stored in the garage, he said. But the batteries would need to be X-rayed to see whether they failed, he added.

"They don't have to be plugged in and they can just spontaneously lose control and go off and ignite," he said.

"The insurance company will pursue it a lot further, they have the expertise," he said. "A town fire marshal doesn't have the resources to X-ray these batteries; it could be over $30,000."

Flaherty said they are also looking at the vehicle in the garage that sustained "heavy, heavy damage" to rule it out.

"We spent Friday morning with shovels and shifters and finding the batteries and anything else we needed to put it together," he said.

Editor’s note: This version adds Jessica Bravo as a reporter on this story.