Ottawa couple credits dog for alerting them to overnight fire

Jennifer Filip and her dog Shady. (Katie Griffin/CTV News Ottawa)

A Greely couple is crediting their dog with alerting them to a fire early Monday morning, giving them the time they needed to call 911 and get out safely.

Jennifer Filip and her husband were sleeping when Shady, their five-year-old border collie/poodle mix, started growling after midnight.

“He had heard, I guess, some crackling or whatever noise from the shed, and that’s what woke him up and what woke us up,” said Jennifer Filip. “He woke us up when the shed was in flames.”

The fire was quickly spreading from their shed to the house.

“We grabbed our fire extinguisher, but it was way too out of control at that point,” Filip said. “[I] ran out of the house in a house coat with no shoes on and as we stood on the street, like within a minute, the house filled with smoke so, you know, Shady got us out with minutes to spare.”

The fire was in an area of the city with no hydrants, so firefighters had to use their tanker trucks to bring water to the scene.

“This fire started on the outside of the home and a lot of homes now are built with siding, which goes up extremely fast and it’s like liquid gasoline,” said Nick DeFazio, public information officer with Ottawa Fire Services. “So you want to remember not to keep anything flammable near the siding of the house. That could be a barbecue, it could be dry vegetation or leaves that you’ve raked up, or even using tools that create sparks.”

DeFazio stressed the importance of smoke alarms and knowing exit points, adding you only have about three minutes to get out of a new-build that’s burning.

“When the fire starts on the outside, by the time it gets onto the inside, it’s going to leave you even less time to get out of the home,” he said.

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No one was hurt. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

“From the time that it was just the shed to the whole roof on fire, it was just minutes. You have no idea how fast that happens and how much he bought us that time to get out,” said Filip.

Filip also thanked firefighters for protecting what they could.

“I know the fire department is there to put out the fire and make sure that everybody’s safe, I just didn’t expect that they would have taken such care with our belongings,” she said.

“I had a painting that I was doing of Shady, and they had taken that and put it on my desk and under a tarp before they had released all the water from the ceiling … Our furniture in the basement, they moved to the other side of the room. We really appreciate the care they took.”

Filip said it will be at least six months before they’re able to get back into their home. In the meantime, the couple is giving Shady even more love.

“I don’t think it’s possible to spoil him any more, but he has gotten even more treats this week.”

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