A LABRADOR has been hailed a canine heroine after alerting her elderly owner to a fire.

An 82-year-old woman had been asleep in her bungalow in Halstead Road, Gosfield, when a fire broke out in the kitchen.

Fortunately, her 11-year-old pet, Snoopy, who sleeps in the kitchen, woke her by barking.

The partially deaf resident was shaken and suffered some smoke inhalation, but managed to phone 999 on Sunday at 4.30am.

A neighbour, who refused to be named, came over to help.

He said: “Snoopy’s a hero. I think the smoke has affected her breathing and eyes though.

“It would break my neighbour’s heart if anything happened to her. I don’t know how long she was in there with the fire.

“I dread to think what could have happened if she hadn’t alerted my neighbour.”

Peter Robertson, Halstead fire station officer, said: “A dog bed had fallen on a wall heater.

“The fire had smoke logged the kitchen and burnt the dog’s bed. The dog alerted the owner and you could say she had a lucky escape.”

Mr Roberston praised the woman for closing all of the doors before she went to bed, which meant the smoke took longer to spread and gave her more time to call the emergency services.