What to Know
- A barking dog and the smell of smoke alerted residents to a house fire in West Berlin, New Jersey, early Friday.
- Firefighters fought humidity and the flames to bring the blaze under control.
- Five people and two dogs got out of the house safely. Five cats were unaccounted for, the fire chief said.
A dog’s bark is being credited with helping save sleeping New Jersey residents from a quick-moving fire that gutted their home.
Firefighters arrived to the house on Briarwood Road in West Berlin, Camden County, around 3:35 a.m. Friday to find flames shooting from the back of the home.
“Fire conditions were pretty severe,” West Berlin Fire Department Chief Joseph Jackson said.
Firefighters battled the blaze inside and out to get it under control.
All five adults made it out of the home OK thanks, in part, to man’s best friend.
“One (person) woke up to the smell of smoke and the sound of the dog barking erratically,” Jackson said.
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That dog and another dog made it out of the home safely. Five cats, however, were unaccounted for Friday morning.
No firefighters were hurt as they worked in shifts to keep cool with humid conditions at the time, Jackson said.
The county fire marshal investigated the cause of the blaze.
