Dog saves three lives after alerting family to a fire in their home in Australia

Snoopy the dog helps to save Bill Winter, 67, and his two adult children from the blaze

Snoopy, the dog that saved a family of three from a house fire (7 News Queensland)

An Australian family has been saved by their family dog which woke them up by barking as a devastating fire destroyed their home.

Bill Winter, 67, and his two adult children escaped the blaze, which started in the early hours of the morning at their two-storey home near Brisbane, on the west coast of Australia.

Mr Winter told 7 News Queensland their beagle Snoopy saved the day when the house's fire alarms failed to go off.

"He barked and woke us up. We only just got out," he said.

Owen George, a local fire station officer, told 9 News the dog had saved the family's lives “without a doubt.”

“They did have operating smoke alarms, but because the fire was very intense downstairs there was little to no smoke actually in the upstairs area of the dwelling,” he said.

Fire crews extinguished the blaze that destroyed the family’s home of nearly 40 years as well as their car and a boat loaded with diesel fuel – luckily, the fire was put out before the flames reached the boat’s tank.

Everything inside the house was destroyed.

A witness told 9 News: “We could see flames from my house about two streets away, a lot of smoke and high flames.”

In April, a family dog was called a hero when it led firefighters to two children trapped inside a burning house in Florida.

The firefighters were able to pull their mother to safety from a window, and broke down the front door to rescue their father.

But it was Maxx, a German shepherd, that led them through the smoke to the children’s bedroom, reported Mashable.

And in Canada, another German Shepherd called Rex was awarded an honorary medal by a pet care company last month after saving its owner’s mother from a house fire by dragging her to the door as she slept.

According to The Telegraph, Noreen Lucas had come down with pneumonia and taken a sleeping pill as her son and his partner headed out for the day.

She said she “owes her life” to eight-year-old Rex.