Teenager saved from blaze by his Rottweiler

10:26pm Sunday 24th February 2008

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A TEENAGE uncle rescued from a burning house has told how his pet dog saved his life after he had been knocked unconscious.

Carl McMahon's Rottweiler Lennox stayed by his side in black smoke so thick that visibility was almost nil at his sister's home in Stevenson Street West, Accrington.

And Lennox's yelps helped firefighters quickly locate Mr McMahon, 19, of Central Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, at around 3am yesterday.

He was carried outside and resuscitated in the street by paramedics, before being taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital for a check up.

But Mr McMahon suffered no lasting damage - and he believes he owes his life to Lennox.

He said: "One of my friends was passing the house at the time of the fire and came in to look for me, but because the smoke was so thick he couldn't see me.

"If it wasn't for Lennox and the firemen I would probably be dead. He stayed next to me and was yelping.

"It was that noise that led firefighters to find me and they dragged me out."

Mr McMahon said he was staying at the house, which belongs to his sister Kath McMahon, after having an argument with his girlfriend.

He said he returned to the house at 2.30am after drinking with friends and decided to put some beef burgers under the grill of the cooker.

After returning to the front door of the house to chat with friends, he realised that smoke was pouring from the kitchen and went to see what the problem was.

He said: "I could see the smoke but as I went back in the cooker exploded in my face and knocked me out.

"I was just led on the floor out cold.

"My two sisters and their kids were upstairs at the time but they managed to get out.

"When the cooker blew-up all the electric in the house went off and that's my sisters realised something was wrong.

"They could smell the smoke and hear the smoke alarm and just made sure they got the children out of the house.

"I don't know whether I'll be allowed to stay again.

"I definitely won't be able to do any cooking here again I know that!

"The last thing I remember was the cooker blowing up and then waking up in the back of the ambulance."

His two sisters Kath and Carol McMahon, who both had their two young children, including a baby, with them at the time, escaped the flames on foot.

They were also taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital as a precaution.

The glass doors of the cooker shattered due to the heat generated by the blaze and the kitchen walls were left badly charred with smoke.

A spokesman for Accrington Fire Station said firefighters wearing specialist breathing kit were sent into rescue Mr McMahon.

He said: "This incidents stresses the importance of a smoke alarm in saving lives because the one in the house had alerted the family to the fire."