Fire caused by dog's electric blanket sends half-naked students fleeing to the street

An electric blanket that students in Rotterdam’s Kralingen district had bought for their dog, Dog, caught fire on Monday. The fire alarm sent half-naked students and Dog fleeing out of the student home on Voorschterlaan. No one got hurt, but Dog is going to the vet for a checkup, Rijnmond reported.

The students had bought the electric blanket to keep Dog warm during the cold nights this coming winter. They bought it on Sunday. “We left it on, and it started smoldering a bit on the couch,” a student told the broadcaster.

The smolder turned into a fire, which triggered the fire alarm. After determining that it wasn’t a prank, students fled outside while waiting for the emergency services to respond. Most of them ended up on the street in their underwear. A kind neighbor took them in.

The fire alarm woke the neighbor in question. “We heard the fire alarm in several places. Then we heard the neighbors running downstairs really fast,” she told the broadcaster. She went outside to see what was going on. “They were all standing outside in their underwear,” she laughed.

She invited the students in to wait for the fire department to extinguish the blaze. The neighbor also took in the dog. “He smells really bad of smoke,” she said. “And he’s panting a bit, so he’s going to the vet soon.”