Heroic dog saves neighbors' life during fire with her unusual bark: 'She's really one of a kind'

Despite being less evolved than humans in terms of intelligence, animals have well-developed senses. Particularly, dogs have a sharp sense of hearing and smell that they can identify danger well ahead of humans. In fact, there are several stories on the internet about how dogs saved the lives of their owners or other animals with their powerful senses. One such heroic story of a furry companion saving the lives of her neighbors by alerting her owners right on time is going viral. As reported by ABC 7, if not for Lucy's unusual bark in the middle of the night, her owners might've ignored her and couldn't have prevented the accident.

On December 29, early in the morning around 3 a.m., a fire broke out at a homeowner's workshop in Arlington, Washington State. Lucy, a 3-year-old Australian Shepherd and Labrador mix, who lived in the same neighborhood with her owner Douglas O'Connor II was the first one to spot the flames. While she randomly looked out the window, she sensed the danger that the fire was spreading faster in the workshop. Immediately, Lucy started barking uproariously. The dog owner said that he and his wife usually ignored Lucy's barks in the middle of the night. But, on the night of the fire, they were forced to get out of bed because they'd never heard her bark like that before.

"Loud, screaming-type bark. It was totally different than her just barking at a usual bark. It totally woke us both up." O'Connor said to the news channel and added, "She was trying to tell us something." As Lucy was glaringly barking while looking out the window, O'Connor's wife saw that the neighbor's workshop across the street was on fire. "The flame went out of control and then it was just a blaze and the whole side of the building was on fire," said O'Connor. Lucy's owners immediately called the fire department and the first responders arrived soon enough to stop the fire from spreading to the neighbor's house too. "Firefighters said, 'Another 10 minutes, that could have reached the house.' So that was a little scary," mentioned O'Connor. 

The firefighters and the Arlington, WA police department were awestruck by Lucy's sharp-witted actions. She not only saved the property from further damage but also prevented the loss of lives. "She's just a good dog. She's really one of a kind. I love her to death," said Lucy's proud owner. Posting Lucy's heroic act on Facebook, the Arlington Police Department wrote, "Thanks to Lucy's quick thinking, everyone involved was unharmed and the fire was successfully contained." Reportedly, the cause of the fire in the neighbor's workshop is yet to be identified.

As the outlet shared Lucy's story on YouTube, people expressed their love for the canine. "That's a good girl!" wrote @mvpjsj7557. "I have many dogs and when they do a crazy bark you know something's up. No doubt the person's workshop had lithium-ion batteries recharging a drill or something. Or an e-bike," commented @VintageVaughnVehiclces. "This happened to me when my neighbor set fire to the front yard. Luckily my dog saw it and let me know. Everyone was fine, no damages," wrote @cb6651.