Dog leaps in as house fire hero
Published: August 1, 2005
A man was today rescued alive from his blazing home thanks to his trusty dog.
Fire crews were called to the house in Highbury Road West, St Annes at 6.20am to find the homeowner and his pet stood on the garage roof, having managed to scramble out of a first floor window.
The man had been asleep when a fire took hold downstairs and was only woken when his dog raised the alarm with its barking.
Smoke
Crew Manager, Raymond Bird, of St Annes Fire Station, said: “This could have been a much more serious incident.The man had no smoke alarm in the house and it appears he was woken up by his dog. It was only this which enabled him to escape.
“Another 10 minutes more and this man would have been in hospital, or worse.”
Fire crews say the homeowner was left with little option but to climb through an upstairs window as the property had become filled with thick black smoke.
Crew Manager Bird said: “The fire was just taking hold downstairs and there was a lot of smoke.
“The man had to escape through an upstairs window on to the garage roof.
“He would not have been able to get out any other way as the smoke was very thick downstairs. He had to wait on the roof for us to arrive.”
Neighbour Helen Kelly, said she had been woken early this morning by the sound of the barking dog.
She said: “I could hear the dog barking, I looked outside and saw two fire engines. It was a real shock.
“I don’t know the man next door well, but I see him out and about and we speak occasionally.
“It’s a real nightmare for him. Some rooms are gutted, he has no power or anything like that.
“We went round first thing today with cups of coffee for him. He was very distraught.”
The blaze is believed to have started when the man went to bed the previous night and left a cigarette burning.
“It seems this started late on Sunday night when the man emptied his ashtray into the bin,” Crew Manager Bird added.
“One cigarette had not been extinguished properly which caused this fire. This shows the danger of not putting out cigarettes late at night, and also the importance of a smoke alarm.”
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