Barking dogs help owners escape Takeley house fire

Barking dogs alerted their owners to a fire that destroyed a house in the middle of the night.

Teams from five stations were called to the townhouse on Dunmow Road, Takeley, Essex at around 02:45 BST.

A neighbor who helped rescue horses from the property’s stable said she was woken by an explosion and “looked out the window to see an orange sea.”

Station manager Terry Maher said the fire started in an outbuilding before spreading to the roof of the house.

The neighbor said: “It was around 02:45 BST and my first thought was that a plane had gone down. I was living here when the Korean plane went down in 1999 at nearby Stansted Airport, and then I realized it was a house and my partner. And I ran outside to see if our neighbors were awake and call the fire department.”

He found the couple in the garden with their two Chihuahuas.

Three neighbors then helped police remove three horses from the property’s stables.

One of them said: “It was absolutely terrifying: the stables had filled with smoke, the horses were terrified and we had to guide them through smoke and hot coals.”

“They were very good in the circumstances, but they were obviously traumatized by what was happening, as there were blue lights everywhere, there was fire and it was dark.

“You’re on autopilot and then shock hits, but you can’t let a horse die from smoke inhalation.”

The neighbours, none of whom wanted to be named, said the fire was still burning and “the smoke is still appalling” and that they have had no electricity since 06:00 BST.

They said they were relieved that no one was hurt in the fire at the property, which was rebuilt after a previous fire in 2007.

Maher said firefighters “worked incredibly hard” with a limited water supply.

The house has been rendered uninhabitable and an investigation will be carried out to discover the cause of the fire.

Dunmow Road remains closed and there is a bypass.