Dog saves his family by alerting owners about house fire, firefighters say
By KTRK Web Staff
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THE WOODLANDS, Texas (KTRK) — Firefighters are urging residents to ensure their smoke alarms are working after a dog alerted its owners about a house fire, saving the family.
The Woodlands Fire Department said the fire happened on April 25 at a home that could have gone up in flames.
But, thanks to a family dog, “Scruffy,” the damage stayed in the kitchen.
Firefighters said that just after 2 a.m., the owners were woken up by Scruffy’s unusual behavior of barking and growling.
When the homeowner went to see what was wrong, he found a fire on his stovetop with flames extending up to the cabinets and smoke filling the home.
After using sinkwater to keep the fire from spreading, he and his wife were able to get out of the home safely.
Firefighters arrived shortly afterwards, extinguished the fire, and removed the smoke.
“The outcome could have been much worse without Scruffy,” firefighters said.
According to the fire department, the fire started from a plastic bowl on the stovetop, which was still hot.
The fire damaged the stovetop and items around it.
“The couple had no working smoke alarms in the home, and the outcome could have been much worse without Scruffy. Firefighters returned to the home this morning and installed several smoke alarms to give Scruffy (good dog!) some backup. Please don’t have anything combustible on or around your stove, and make sure you have working smoke alarms on every level of your home and in every sleeping area. Smoke alarms save lives,” the fire department said on social media.
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