LANCASTER, Pa., April 20 (UPI) -- One of a Pennsylvania family's dogs set off a fire but another was able to alert the family to the blaze in their Cumberland County home, officials say.
The Sunday fire in the house in Hampden Township started after one of the dogs nudged a knob on the stove, turning on a burner that caused a blaze to spread throughout the kitchen, WGAL-TV, Lancaster, Pa., reported Tuesday.
Another family dog, a 2-year-old coon hound named Breech, went into the bedroom of 12-year-old Tyler Hay.
"He pulled me off the bed and then I woke up and I just saw pitch black," Hay said.
Paige, the dog that accidentally started the fire, died in the blaze along with many other family pets, WGAL-TV said.
"I get emotional when I think about it. We can replace dogs -- not their personalities, but we can get more dogs. We can't replace Tyler," Tyler's father, Howard Hay, said.
The house had no smoke detectors and fire investigators said the five people asleep at the time of the blaze were lucky to be alive.
The family said they normally take the knobs off the stove.
