A PUPPY was spared the doghouse despite starting a blaze in her owners' home in Norton Fitzwarren in January 2016.

The fire-starting pooch's actions left Iain and Siobhan MacGregor needing medical treatment.

The couple fled the flames and smoke, but then were forced to go back inside to rescue one-year-old Bracken and their other dog, Willow.

Firefighters who put out the fire laid the blame at Bracken’s paw after they discovered the cause was a punctured lithium polymer battery.

Apparently Bracken had picked it up outside, taken it up to bed in the spare room and started chewing it, causing it to puncture and ignite.

Mr MacGregor, 57, said: “I was on the computer downstairs and Siobhan was in the bath upstairs when suddenly she shouted down.

“I ran upstairs and there was thick black smoke on the ceiling and I could see flames a couple of feet high in the second bedroom, so I shut the door.

“The heat coming out of the room was really scary.

“Siobhan grabbed a sweater and jeans and we charged outside and moved the car away from the house.”

Firefighters arrived at the house in Station Road, Norton Fitzwarren, and put out the fire, which left the room gutted.

“Afterwards they found a lithium polymer battery in the spare room and the hunt for the culprit began. I was completely puzzled as I’d never seen one before and we certainly didn’t have one,” said Mr MacGregor.

“They think it must have fallen or been thrown into our drive or garden and Bracken picked it up, brought it into the house and started chewing it.

“It started to smoke and she ran away when it burst into flames.”

Mrs MacGregor, 49, was treated at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, for smoke inhalation, while her husband saw his GP the following week after developing a chesty cough.

He said that the height of the ceilings in the house prevented the fire from spreading.

He added: “The firefighter said, 'I know which dog it was, she looks so guilty'.”

A spokesman for Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service confirmed the cause of the fire was accidental.