LOWER PAXTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WHTM)- Fire officials in Dauphin County are crediting a family dog with saving its owners from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Crews were called to a carbon monoxide alarm late Sunday night in Lower Paxton Township.

Collin Weigle, Assistant Chief of Colonial Park Fire Company, was met by the homeowner who said the rest of her family was already asleep for the night.

“She was lying down for the night when she heard the dog barking downstairs and went down to figure out what the dog was barking at,” said Weigle.

The dog was barking at the carbon monoxide alarm going off in the basement. The alarm was too faint for anyone to hear upstairs, but not for the pup.

“I opened the basement door, and I was already met with a large volume of carbon monoxide in the house,” said Weigle.

The highest reading was 1,500 parts per million.

“It’s enough to knock a human unconscious in about 20 minutes and prove to be fatal in about two hours,” said Weigle.

Weigle says the exhaust pipe of the boiler had come disconnected. The cooler months are when more carbon monoxide-related calls.

“You have some malfunctions that happen over the summer months that you never know about and you go turn your heating on, and that’s when you get all these carbon monoxide emergencies,” said Weigle.

To prevent any accidents, heating appliances should be checked out and dryer vents cleared.

“If they’re packed up with brush in front of them or snow that they can’t ventilate to the outside, that starts to back up and can cause a carbon monoxide leak in the house,” said Weigle.

Just like smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors should be installed on every floor of your home.

“They can set up alarm systems by hardwiring detectors together so that if one goes off, every single detector in the house will go off,” said Weigle.

Last but not least, thank your pets because they could save your life.

“In reality, the dog is the one that saved the family and the detector,” said Weigle.