A Cape Breton family is thanking their family pet for helping them escape a house fire without injuries early Sunday morning.
Cape Breton Regional Police say the blaze happened shortly before 3:45 a.m. at a home on Alder Point Road.
Police say the home was fully engulfed when the family was awakened by their barking dog.
They were all able to get out without major injuries.
"He doesn't realize what he did,” said the homeowners’ grandmother Joan Fraser. “He saved their lives.He’s our hero.”
The father and his oldest daughter had to jump from an upstairs window to escape.
"Just bare feet and a t-shirt and PJs on him, and he jumped out the window with Hannah," said Fraser.
"The young girls have nothing,” said Lois MacLennan, the homeowners’ sister. “Some of my family members just dropped off a pile of beautiful clothes there."
Neighbours could only watch helplessly from their windows.
"When I woke up and came out here, I could see the smoke. That's all I could see. And the lights," said neighbour Cyprian LeBlanc.
Neighbours say this home was one of the oldest in the community, dating back more than 100 years.
"My father, if he had lived to now, would be 114, and he always told us that was one of the first houses in Alder Point," said neighbour Mary Leblanc.
There was also extensive damage to a vehicle parked in the driveway.
The family is currently staying with relatives. The Canadian Red Cross says they have insurance that should take care of some emergency needs.
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.
