This house at 9540 W. 300N in Henry County was left in ruins after it caught fire early Thursday morning. The house was considered a total loss.
SHIRLEY — A barking dog helped save the lives of a man, a woman and a newborn before flames consumed their home early Thursday morning.
The man and woman heard their dog barking in the dark about 5:30 a.m. and discovered that the garage attached to their home at 9540 W. Henry County Road 300 North was on fire and the blaze was spreading to the rest of the home, according to Middletown Police Chief Landon Dean.
This dog alerted a family with a newborn baby to a fire early Thursday morning at the family’s rural Henry County home. The family and dog escaped the fire, which gutted their home.
The man and woman quickly evacuated the home with the baby and the dog before firefighters arrived at 5:45 a.m., Dean said.
The woman was identified on the Middletown Police Facebook page as Jennifer Stewart. Authorities did not release the names of the baby and the man.
“The dog basically saved the day,” Dean said.
The man suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation and was transported to a hospital for treatment, the Middletown fire chief said. Stewart and the baby did not require medical care, he added.
Firefighters from Cadiz, Sulphur Springs, Shirley and Middletown worked for about an hour and a half to put out the fire, according to Dean. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The house and garage were reduced to their charred wooden frames. Dean said the home was a total loss.
A Facebook page belonging to the wife of a Middletown firefighter was soliciting clothing and other items for the family Thursday afternoon. The page identified the newborn as a 6-week-old girl.