In Arlington, a small town nestled in the heart of Washington state, an ordinary night turned into a tale of heroism thanks to a vigilant canine.
At precisely 3:00 a.m., Douglas O’Connor II was sleeping peacefully when he was suddenly awakened by his dog, Lucy. Right across from his home, his neighbor’s property was engulfed in flames, and Lucy would end up becoming the unlikely hero of the hour.
Lucy has been barking desperately, something that she hardly did on a regular evening. Finding it strange but thinking nothing of it, O’Connor attempted to hush the Australian Shepherd-Labrador mix back to sleep. However, there was something urgent in her bark, demanding his attention in a way that he had never witnessed before.
O’Connor, remembering a hundred instances of waking up to his dog barking, explained, “Normally, I just yell at her to go to sleep, you know?”
However, this time, there was something about Lucy’s bark that he had never noticed before.
“Loud, screaming-type bark. It was totally different than her just barking at a usual, usual bark. It was totally—woke us both up. Something’s wrong. Wow. She was trying to tell us something.’”
Intrigued by Lucy’s unusual behavior, O’Conner’s wife decided to head out and investigate what Lucy’s incessant barking was all about. As soon as she looked through the window of her house, she saw the neighbor’s workshop across the way swallowed by flames.
Immediately, the O’Connors called 911, hoping the firefighters would arrive before the blaze spread or anyone got hurt. As soon as they got there, the fire fighters managed to put the flames out before the fire spread to the neighbor’s home, where the owner was still asleep when the firefighters arrived.
“Firefighters said another 10 minutes that could have reached the house. So that was a little scary,” said O’Connor.
Thanks to Lucy’s timely intervention, the firefighters were able to respond promptly to the fire, arriving on the scene to contain the huge blaze before it could wreak further havoc. They were also able to meet their furry hero that became an instant hit among the police, rightfully so.
O’Conner shared, “I think the fire department and the police officers just fell in love with her.”
The KING 5 News even reported that Lucy’s barking was so loud that it woke up the other neighbors in the area, who also called it in to the fire department. But in the end, it was really due to the constant barking of one furry little savior that truly changed the fate of an entire neighborhood.
“This is a good dog. She’s really one of a kind. I love her to death,” said O’Connor.
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