WILTON – Justine Child credits her dad’s dog Buffy with saving her and her boyfriend’s lives.

A fire ripped through the garage owned by her father, Arthur Child, early Tuesday destroying it. Firefighters were quick to respond and were able to save the house, she said.

Buffy started barking and woke Justine Child up, she said.

“I thought she had to go to the bathroom,” Child said. “We owe our lives to her.”

Child then smelled smoke and woke her boyfriend, Mark Turk. She said that after she called 911, firefighters and three trucks arrived within 10 minutes. Turk went outside, moved the vehicles out of the way and sprayed the house down with water.

“The Fire Department got here in the nick of time,” Child said. She could hear mini explosions from a kerosene can and other items kept in the garage

The two-bay garage located near the house was destroyed, Fire Chief Fred Hyde said.

About 35 firefighters from four departments responded to the fire reported at 2:13 a.m. at the Ridgecrest Drive residence.

The road is off Orchard Drive near the Temple Road end.

“When we arrived it was fully involved; it was gone when we got there,” Hyde said. “All you could see was the frame. We directed water quickly onto the house and then knocked down the fire.”

Child was on vacation, and his daughter and her boyfriend were housesitting, the chief said.

Firefighters from Wilton, East Dixfield, Farmington and Jay along with three engines and three tankers were at the early-morning scene. A tanker from Chesterville was called out, but canceled, Hyde said.

Firefighters used about 8,000 gallons of water from the tankers. The heat from the blaze melted vinyl siding on the home and cracked a window, Hyde said.

The fire started in the garage but how it started is still undetermined, he said.

“It is so gone, it’s hard to tell,” Hyde said.

There were no vehicles in the garage. The family is insured.

“I cannot say enough about the Fire Department,” Child said.

dperry@sunjournal.com