Before you go running out of your house to purchase an all new set of plastic pet bowls, let’s be realistic here — it’s probably not likely that your dog’s metal dish will catch the sunlight in just such a way as to spark a house fire, but anything is possible. One couple in California found out that the hot, fiery way.

Luckily for this couple, their usually quiet dog alerted them to the fire his bowl caused, reports the Press Democrat, by barking excitedly.

“It’s a good thing we got to it in time because there’s a pretty good-sized hole burned in the siding,” the man said.

No one realized the bowl was responsible, until an engineer with the fire department noticed a charred area on the cedar siding, and saw the empty chrome bowl on the deck.

“It was uncanny,” the firefighter said. “There was a dot of concentrated light right in that exact area” of the charred siding.

Sun reflected off dog dish ignites Bennett Valley house fire [Press Democrat]

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