A TEENAGER was rescued from a garage blaze after his pet dog raised the alarm.

Dwayne Twidale said he thought he was going to die after he started a fire while playing with a lighter.

The 13-year-old was in the garage when a lit piece of paper ignited petrol he had intended to put in his minimotorbike.

Within seconds, the garage was on fire and Dwayne tried to put out the flames with a cushion. His mother, Kelly Powell, was oblivious until their dog, Oscar, bit her ankle to alert her to the drama on Sunday. She pulled him to safety just in time, and said: “His shorts were on fire and he managed to pull them off and wrap his T-shirt around him. He has burns on his right leg from his bottom down to his calf. He might need a skin graft when it settles down, but other than that he is all right.”

Dwayne, from Hartlepool, said: “I thought I was going to die. I’ll be telling my friends not to mess about with lighters.”