WILL THOMAS
WTTG
Reprinted with Permission

BELTSVILLE, Md. - A family dog's barking is being credited for awakening a Beltsville, Maryland family Tuesday morning as their house was on fire.

Monster, a 6-year-old male Doberman, was outside when the fire erupted. His ferocious barking and jumping on a rear sliding glass door woke up the family and they went to investigate.

They soon heard the smoke alarm and everyone exited the home safely. The Prince George's County Fire & EMS Department is crediting the family pet Monster with providing the family a few extra moments it needed to escape safely.

Evelyn Aquilar was inside the home along with nine children between the ages of 3 and 14.

"Monster kept banging on the glass and he started crying and I think by running around, he was alerting everyone else," Aquilar told FOX 5's Will Thomas.

The house is a rental, but all of the family's belongs were destroyed in the fire. Aquilar said the Red Cross is providing temporary shelter, but that runs out in three days.

The fire burned through the roof of the house before firefighters were able to gain control and knock the fire down. Thirty firefighters worked for 20 minutes to knock down the bulk of the fire. There were three adults and five children at home this morning and all escaped without injury.

A firefighter sustained a burn injury to his upper body and was treated and released from a burn unit at a local hospital.