Dog Alerts Family to House Fire

Aug 3, 11:10 PM (ET)

HUNTINGTON STATION, N.Y. (AP) - A family's dog is being lauded as a heroine after waking an 8-year-old girl when a fire broke out at their home. Katarina Scholz jumped from her bed about 4 a.m. Thursday and followed her barking 2-year-old bull mastiff, Daisy, downstairs to alert the rest of the family, Suffolk County fire officials said.

The girl and her dog plus mom Teresa, dad Paul and brother Jake, 4, fled the home uninjured. Another brother, Paul Jr., 10, was sleeping over at a friend's house.

"Daisy is definitely going to get filet mignon for dinner, and Katarina can have as much ice cream as she wants," Teresa Scholz told Newsday. "My husband always yelled at the dog for going in the flower beds, but now we're going to build one just for her. She deserves it."

Two other family dogs, Chihuahuas, died in the blaze, which was being investigated by the county's arson squad but wasn't considered suspicious.

The home was severely damaged; it took 75 firefighters about two hours to extinguish the blaze.

"Luckily the little girl and her dog were able to get everybody out of the house in time," Huntington Manor Fire Department Chief Dane Martin said. "It's one of those incredible stories that you only read about in the newspapers."


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