Barking dog ‘Bruce Wayne’ wakes two in time to escape fire
BUTLER, Pa. (WKBN) — A barking dog woke up two people sleeping inside a burning house in Butler, Pa., just in time for them to escape safely.
According to the Butler Fire Department, Amanda Zapp and Ryan Bickford went to sleep Christmas night at 313 Roosevelt Blvd.
They were then awoken around 12:30 a.m. early Monday morning by their barking dog, named “Bruce Wayne.” When they went downstairs, they discovered the Christmas tree on fire.
After grabbing a few belongings and getting their pets out of the house, they called 911. Firefighters arrived on scene to see fire venting out of three first-floor windows.
It also spread across the living room and into the kitchen, while it vented through a front window to a second-story window directly above it, causing an upstairs bedroom to catch fire.
Firefighters extinguished the majority of the fire in 15 minutes and put it out completely in two hours.
There were no injuries.
Joe McKain, the property owner, was notified.
The American Red Cross was notified to provide food and shelter to the tenants.
Kaufman estimated the damage to be $30,000 for the house and between $15,000-$20,000 for its contents.
The cause of the fire has not been determined. It is still under investigation.