CAMPBELL'S ISLAND, Illinois - Mike Hood, 63, escaped with just the clothes on his back during a house fire early Thursday on Campbell's Island.
But thanks to his fearless dog, Miss Charlie, he's alive tonight.
Flames and smoke filled his home around 7:30 Thursday morning.
At a site known for the War of 1812, firefighters from several departments battled this time to save a house.
"It was just a big black cloud of smoke and flames shooting up over the trees," recalled neighbor Candy Garrison.
While sleeping through blaring smoke alarms, Hood did respond to a wake-up call from a faithful friend.
"The dog was going crazy," Garrison continued. "Barking at him to try to wake him up to get him out because she knew something was wrong."
Miss Charlie, a fearless, loyal Staffordshire Bull Terrier, wouldn't let her buddy down.
"He said he was laying on the couch sleeping," said neighbor Dick Southwick. "The dog woke him up, and he grabbed a fire extinguisher trying to put the fire out."
Hood, who thinks the fire started in a bathroom, could only watch his home of a half-century burn down.
With no hydrants, firefighters had to truck in water or pump it out of the nearby Mississippi River.
"It's a big fire," said East Moline Fire Chief Rob DeFrance. "They were lucky to get out. Everything else can be replaced."
Investigators want to know if an overnight power outage due to storms had anything to do with the fire.
Firefighters stepped into action to save a neighbor's home after flames melted siding off an exterior wall.
They also had to contend with a natural gas leak.
The outcome is worse for Mike Hood.
"He's lost everything," Chief DeFrance said.
Hood, who has insurance, is getting help from relatives, neighbors and the American Red Cross.
"The dog waking him up -- thank God he didn't lose his life in there," Garrison concluded. "It could have been a lot, lot worse."