Blind Great-Grandmother Saved From House Fire by Dog, Clever Barbie
A widowed great grandmother in the U.K. is lucky to be alive. One of the woman's pets woke her up after a fire had broken out in her bedroom.
72-year-old Rosemary Field from Kingswood is a registered blind diabetic. She was brought out of slumber when Clever Barbie, her 7-year-old Jack Russell, started licking her face after an oil lamp had fallen onto her bed- catching her bed sheets on fire.
Field reportedly threw a glass of water that was on her nightstand on the flames and moved quickly to the bathroom to get more.
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Unfortunately, the great grandmother could not see in the room due to her poor eyesight coupled with the smoke produced from the fire. She decided then to grab her remaining three pets and exit her house.
Firefighters from the local Speedwell station arrived to find that fire had already been extinguished, and told her that she was lucky to have such an alert dog. Field revealed that she has owned the dog since it was a just a puppy.
"I can't do enough for little Barbie now– I've been giving her lots of treats since it happened," Field told The Post of Bristol, U.K.
"She usually sleeps on my bed but when she started licking my face so early in the morning I was quite annoyed. It wasn't until I woke up more that I saw the bottom of my bed was on fire," she added.
Fire officials told Field, who has three children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, that she may not want to use her oil lamp anymore.
"We advocate the use of smoke alarms, but it is certainly very unusual for a dog to wake someone up in this way," James Bladon, spokesman for Avon Fire and Rescue Service, told local media. "Clearly in this case the dog was instrumental in the lady being made aware of the fire and getting herself to safety."
