Residents of an apartment block in Byker, UK are crediting a Lakeland Patterdale terrier cross with saving people’s lives, after she spotted a fire being deliberately lit close to her home.
Two year-old Molly noticed vandals setting light to a trashcan just after 5am and woke her sleeping owners with her barking.
Semi-retired chef Alan Dowling, 64, said: “We owe our lives to Molly. She started barking when she heard something going on in the backyard of the apartments. Vandals had set the wheelie bin on fire, which spread to my motorbike. Huge 20ft flames started going up the bathroom window and on to the satellite dishes. It also melted our telephone land line.”
“I had my van in the yard. Still in my pajamas I ran around to move it in case it got caught up in the flames. Then I heard the petrol tank on the motorbike explode.”
Molly’s owners, Dominique Robilliard, 29, and Brian Moel, 35, are also thankful to their heroic canine. Dominique, a former barber, said: “Alan didn’t have a smoke alarm and our batteries were out of ours so Molly did a great job waking us up. It could have got very dangerous if the flames had spread. Molly saved our lives.”
