Pit Bull Saves Woman From Blaze At Long Island Home

A pit bull saved a woman from a fire in her home in Long Island, New York, barking to alert her to the blaze.

Pit bull saves woman (Youtube screengab, News 4)

Jackie Bonasera credited her pit bull for escaping from her burning house on Friday. She said she was drying her hair in an upstairs bathroom when she heard him barking frantically. When she checked on her dog downstairs, she saw the flames on the side of her garage and so she immediately rushed outside before realizing her pet was not with her.

"I ran out of the house and my neighbors came running over, and then I thought about the dog –I'm like, 'He saved my life, I have to save his,'" Bonasera told News 4 New York.

Bonasera said she put her robe over her head and ran back into the home to find her pit bull, named Cain.

The cause of the fire, which needed over 70 firemen to be put out, is now being investigated by the arson squad. Authorities, however, indicated that it's not suspicious.

Earlier this year, another dog was hailed a hero after she saved her 72-year-old owner from a spreading fire in Bristol, England. According to reports, Barbie, a 7-year-old Jack Russell, licked her owner's face to alert her after a fallen bedside lamp caused her mattress to catch on fire.

Just last Wednesday, a 12-year-old cocker spaniel named Oz was credited with saving his owner's life after a fire broke out in a neighbor's home in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. Randy Merlo, 47, said his dog woke him up when a fire began spreading through the unoccupied neighboring house.

"He was nudging me, and I smelled smoke and we left," Merlo said. "Saved my life, yes, he probably did."