Dog Charlie saves owners from blaze

May 27 2008 By David Holmes

A COUPLE’S pet dog saved them from serious injury by alerting them to a fire at their home in the middle of the night.

The 24-year-old woman and 34-year- old man were awoken by golden labrador Charlie at their semi-detached house in Tennyson Walk, Blacon, after he became aware of a kitchen fire.

An electrical fault within a freezer sparked the blaze which destroyed their ground floor rear kitchen and has made the house temporarily uninhabitable.

Fortunately, the couple and their pet were able to escape without injury and were outside when firefighters arrived just after 4am on Monday. A smoke alarm had failed to activate because it was not fitted with a battery.

Flammable coolants within the freezer acted as an accelerant making the fire more ferocious than normal. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used a hose-reel to extinguish the flames.

A powerful fan was used to ventilate the property of smoke.

Firefighter Andy Spencer of Green Watch said ‘Charlie’ had proved the hero of hour in alerting his owners to the blaze but added that householders could not rely on their pets and a working smoke alarm could have prevented more damage.

He said: "A smoke alarm would have alerted them far more quickly and the fire may not have developed as rapidly as it did. In their defence, we have had a few fridge-freezer and freezer fires where the fire has developed within minutes because the coolant used in modern appliances acts as an accelerant and you get very rapid fire spread."

The home-owners, who were distressed but uninjured, are insured and expect to be housed in a hotel pending repairs to their property.