A yellow Labrador retriever in New Canaan scrambled to save his family of five from a fire as they slept.

The Tully family says their dog Higgins alerted them to a basement fire before it triggered a smoke detector in their Hemlock Hill Road home.

A malfunctioning ash bin sparked the small fire, and Higgins began doing everything he could to raise the alarm, according to Krista Tully.

"He jumped up over the gate, knocked it over," she says. "I thought he had eaten something and had to go out -- let him out. He was running around the yard barking."

The smoke alarm eventually went off, and firefighters extinguished the flames.