How the black German Spitz Purzel saved four lives

In its Saturday edition of January 22, 1955, the "Kölner Stadtanzeiger" (Cologne newspaper) reported the following incident in the article "Couple died in flames":

"On the night of Friday, January 21st, around 4:30 a.m., a fire broke out in the extension of a house on Olpener Strasse, at the corner of Burgstrasse, in Höhenberg, where there is a bar. In only a few minutes, the fire spread to the stairwell connecting the annex and the front building and set part of the attic. While four residents - the innkeeper, his wife, the housemaid and a young man - were able to escape the fire, the other two residents of the house - the childless couple Franz Prinz, 52 and 57 years old - were surprised by the fire. As a result of the heavy smoke, both collapsed unconscious and died in the flames."

Purzel as a lifesaver

"It was only thanks to the fact that Purzel, our three-year-old Mannheim-Spitz, became aware of the smell of fire, so that my wife, the housemaid and I were able to save ourselves from the burning house in time," explained the innkeeper after the fire disaster.

"It was already late at night when my wife and I went to the bed. Suddenly we were woken up by a heavy knocking at the door. "Fire!" shouted our housemaid, who was banging on the bedroom door in great excitement. I opened the door and entered the hallway, the entire stairwell was already filled with thick smoke. When asked where the fire was, she replied: "In my room." I ran barely dressed to the first floor of the annex, so that I might be able to intervene. However, in vain. When I opened the door, I saw the brightest flames. In a few minutes, the fire spread to the wooden stairs leading to the front building. Packed with a few belongings, we got outside. As my housemaid reported, she woke up by the sound of Purzel's barking, who had been in the bedroom, and then she noticed the fire. Since the young man who was rescued by the fire department said that he had woken up the couple living next to him in the attic, we assumed that everyone in the house was safe. Unfortunately, this assumption has not been confirmed."