Barking dogs raise alarm to stop house fire spreading to neighbours' homes

ANGLIA 060623 Ongar fire Essex Fire and Rescue
The fire destroyed a shed containing a swimming pool boiler. Credit: Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

Fire crews stopped a blaze in a garden from spreading to a neighbour's house after barking dogs raised the alarm.

Essex Fire said crews were called to the fire in a swimming pool boiler house just before 11pm on Monday.

The blaze on Stanford Rivers Road in Ongar was only discovered when the owners' dogs woke them up by barking.

When firefighters from Ongar and Brentwood arrived they found the boiler house completely alight and fire beginning to spread to a neighbour's house.

Incident commander Dan Hockley said: "The shed building has been damaged by fire and the fascia and guttering of both the owners and neighbours' house were damaged from the heat. 

"It's thanks to the fantastic work of our crews that this fire didn't spread any further and cause considerably more damage."

Investigations are continuing to find out how the fire started.

The guttering on the neighbours' house had began to burn but crews managed to stop the fire spreading Credit: Essex Fire and Rescue

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