DOG FIRES HOUSE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 26 September 1927, Page 5

DOG FIRES HOUSE

ALIGHT FROM HEAD TO TAIL.

AFTER PETROL BATH. Sydney, Sept. 16. A dog afire from head to tail. This, in brief, was the cause of a fire which almost destroyed a Sydney home at the week-end. It was such an extraordinary occurrence as to become the subject of an interesting newspaper story. The dog, a valuable Pomeran ian, belonged to Mr O. W. Percy, of Cra’ne Avenue, Haberfield, and on Sun day got loose and wandered through a nearby swamp. It returned home covered in oily slime, and Mr Percy set out to clean the d'og in a petrol bath. Having succeeded in lessening the mud and getting rid of oily substance he let the petrol run out of the bath. Then, without thinking, he lit the bath heater. Result. —The dog burst into flames jumped out of the flaming bath, and, barking furiously, ran through thq house rubbing against anything and everything in an endeavour to “put itself out.” Within five inmutes the cottage was ablaze from end to end and though firemen were called immediately, they had great difficulty in saving the place from total destruction. The dog, meanwhile, had run outside and rolled in the dirt, effectively smothering the flames. Not, however, before all its hair had been burnt from its body. Half an hour later, it staggered home in a bad way. and though a local chemist treated the burns, the dog became gradually weaker. Subsequently Mr Percy took the suffering animal to the local police, who ended its agony with a revolver bullet. Tn addition to the damage to the cottage—about £5OO worth —Mr Percy lost a dog worth £3O through that petrol bath.