Pet parrot ‘Eric’ saves man from house fire in Brisbane

"Everything's alright so long as I have myself and the bird."

A man in Australia was saved from a house fire thanks to his pet parrot. Anton Nguyen was sleeping in his Brisbane home late at night when he was awoken to the sound of his parrot, Eric, calling his name. Nguyen's home was alight by the time that emergency services arrived after 2am, but thankfully, he was able to escape, with Eric in tow. "I heard a bang and Eric - my parrot - he started to yell so I woke up and I smelled a bit of smoke," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "I grabbed Eric, opened the door and looked to the back of the house and saw some flames. And so I've grabbed my bag and took off and bolted downstairs." Anton added that despite the traumatic experience, overall, he's doing okay. "I'm in shock but I'm fine," he said. "Everything's alright so long as I have myself and the bird." According to Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Acting Inspector Cam Thomas, Eric had squawked "Anton! Anton!" to alert his owner of the fire. "There were smoke detectors," he said, "but the bird alerted before the smoke detectors went off." Thomas added that the fire had "pretty much well engulfed" Anton's home by the time his team got there.