Our dogs saved our lives after their barks alerted us to blaze in our garden sparked by firework, couple says

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Annette Wallace and John Cooke were left devastated after their house was consumed by a ferocious blaze which ignited after a firework landed in their Lancashire garden

An elderly couple say their lives were saved by their "manically" barking dogs after a firework exploded in their garden - and sparked a raging inferno that threatened to consume them and their £100,000 home.

Annette Wallace, 63, and her 66-year-old partner John Cooke were watching television in their living room in Clayton Brook, in Chorley, Lancashire, when their two Staffordshire Bull Terriers started barking. The pups, Kiko, 6, and Enzo, 5, were so riled up that John was forced to yell for them to stop.

But it was only when John looked through the back door window that he saw the two dogs were reacting to the garden, which had been set ablaze.

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Thanks to their dogs' barking, Annette, a cleaner, and John, a retired valet, were able to flee with both pooches before the flames spread through the garden and ripped into their house. Shocking video captured by the pair showed the property's smouldering interior covered in thick soot.

The two believe repairs will cost tens of thousands of pounds, with the interior completely scorched and their furniture badly damaged and charred.

Lancashire Police have now launched an arson investigation into the incident, believing it was caused by two men who chucked a lit firework into the older couple's garden. Annette said: "We are so thankful for Kiko and Enzo, as without them we may not be alive. We didn't hear a bang or smell smoke, it was only their barking that alerted us."

"The situation is devastating. We have lost everything apart from the clothes on our backs. Tragically, this includes photos and trinkets from the past forty years we have lived there.

"I don't know how anyone can be so cruel. We have no idea what we have done to deserve this." Mum-of-two Annette said every room in the house has been damaged…

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