A dog with a sensitive nose is being credited with preventing a fire from destroying a New York church recently and earning the gratitude of an entire congregation.
An electrical issue in an illuminated cross ignited a fire at the Yorktown Assembly of God Church in Somers early Sunday, TAPinto.net reports. But before any humans were aware of what had happened, Bear, a German Shepherd who lived nearby with owner Kim Lewis, caught wind of the smoke and began barking up a storm.
Those "alarming" barks got Lewis out of bed at around 12:45 a.m., and she ran to her window to see flames shooting through the church's roof. That led to a 9-1-1 call before heading next door to alert the church’s administrator about what was happening.
Firefighters from multiple departments responded to the fire and were able to save the main church building. Although flames damaged the roof and the sanctuary sustained water damage, firefighters told Lewis that without Bear's warning and her timely 9-1-1 call, the fire could have burned down the church, according to TAPinto.net.
“Fires in these large commercial buildings are especially dangerous and require a lot of manpower due to their sheer size as the fire can rapidly grow,” said Somers Fire Chief Jon Mackey, adding that firefighters did an “excellent job in stopping this fire from being a catastrophe.”
