An elderly woman in Davie, Florida, is alive after her home caught on fire, thanks to what she says were the heroic actions of her dog.
Beverly Murphy was sleeping inside her mobile home early Friday in the 1300 block of Southwest 8th Street when the fire erupted, NBC Miami reported.
Video footage shows the blaze consuming the house and billowing smoke rising into the air as firefighters worked to quell the flames.
Murphy said she was alerted to the situation by one of her dogs and quickly realized something was terribly wrong.
“I was asleep but the smoke woke me up — the dog woke me up first — and then I heard this crackling sound. I couldn’t figure out what the crackling was,” she recalled, adding she smelled smoke and then saw her kitchen was in flames.
Murphy and her adult son were able to escape the blaze and make it outside to safety. However, Murphy’s three dogs reportedly did not survive the incident.
The NBC Miami report noted officials are still investigating what caused the fire.
Another video clip shows the home, which appears to be completely destroyed, in the aftermath of the fire. A neighbor told WPLG, “I walked outside to see that the neighbor’s house was on fire.”
She added that it was “tragic” the dogs did not survive the blaze:
According to WagWalking.com, dogs’ keen sense of smell and excellent hearing enable them to smell smoke and hear flames when a fire approaches.
“Stories of dogs rescuing families from fires prove their ability to sense fire,” the website reads:
Your dog may growl to warn you of the danger or their hackles may stand on end. Lip licking signifies nervousness and your dog may want to find a place to hide. However, in terms of rescue behavior, dogs can be amazingly brave and save families from the fire. Dogs have run in search of help and pulled young children from the depths of a burning house. It is certain that dogs sense fire and show signs of reacting to its dangers.
In April, a Maryland family’s dog alerted them to a dangerous house fire by banging on their door, per Breitbart News.
