LAYTON — A family’s beloved pet is being credited with saving his owner’s life, but losing his own, in a fire that engulfed a Layton home on Wednesday afternoon.
Jake, a 13-year-old retriever/lab mix, woke the woman from a nap in a second-story bedroom, by whining and barking.
“When she awoke, there was too much smoke for her to get down the stairs and she had to jump from the second-story window,” Layton Fire Kevin Ward said.
She tried to coax the dog out of the window. However, “he was a big dog, about 120 pounds and he wouldn’t jump, and she couldn’t lift him” Ward said.
The family had Jake since he was a puppy and he was like one of their children, Ward said, adding that the woman was very upset.
Ward called Jake a hero.
“It’s a reasonable assumption that she would have died in the fire if it hadn’t been for Jake’s whining and barking,” Ward said.
Investigators were on the scene of the fire, 850 E. Wasatch Blvd., Thursday morning determining the cause and an estimate of damage.
It appeared the fire started in the basement and spread rapidly up the walls, Ward said.
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