INGENIOUS dog Meg was hailed a heroine after saving a family from a blaze - at 5.30am!
Terence Lee, 18, started cooking burgers after a night out but fell asleep, leaving the grill to burst into flames.
As thick black smoke filled the kitchen, intrepid Meg leapt up, opened a heavy fire door, climbed upstairs and woke his parents.
"Only for Meg, my son would have been dead," said his mum, Christine, of Mottershead Road, Widnes. "She is absolutely amazing, part human. We call her Houdini, she's a little escape artist!"
Leading firefighter Gary Simpson hailed Meg a star. He said: "You're literally talking minutes. If the dog wasn't there, especially at 5.30am, everyone in the house is at risk in no time."
Terence, a Halton College student, said he feels lucky to be alive. He said: "It only hit me afterwards."
His family was commended by firefighters for having a very clean cooker, fire doors and two smoke detectors, which limited the damage.
"It could have been a whole lot worse," said Christine. "Only for Meg, I think we could all have died. Our smoke alarms didn't go off because the fire doors did their job.
"She is an amazing little dog."
Firefighters discovered the smoke-logged kitchen last Friday.
