Burned-Out Family Credits Barking Dog With Saving Lives

A family of five said their barking 8-year-old Pomeranian dog awakened them and led them to safety through smoke and flames before dawn today when fire swept through four units of a condominium complex in Monterey Park.

“Yogi Bear saved us,” Danny Sandoval said later. “It was a miracle.”

Sandoval, 43, an airline mechanic, and his wife, Elizabeth, 47, suffered burns on their hands as they and their three children--Dennis, 24; Dave, 22, and Donna, 17--fled from their home at 1032 S. Garfield Ave. Fire officials said several other occupants of the condominium complex suffered smoke inhalation. None of the injured required hospitalization.

“We lost everything,” Danny Sandoval said. “None of it was insured.”

Fire Department Battalion Chief Allen McComb said arson investigators are looking into the blaze, “but the cause is still unknown and there’s nothing to indicate a suspicious origin at this point.”