Upstate Man Tries To Save Dog From Fake House Fire

A Halfmoon man allegedly broke into his neighbor's house to save the family dog from a fire, but there was no fire.

Sounds quite heroic like something out of The Twilight Zone. We can hear Rod Serling now. It's a typical Thursday afternoon on Inglewood Drive in Halfmoon New York...The Problem is that this is a real story.

43-year-old Michael Orchard of Halfmoon drove his BMW through his neighbor's fence to rescue their dog from a house fire. Except there was no house fire. He mixed cough syrup with LSD and was hallucinating. Troopers found him, standing heroically with a dog in his arms outside of what he thought was a giant inferno.

Neighbors tell NewsChannel 13: Orchard went around the neighborhood banging on doors yelling about a fire. Since no one would help, because there was no fire. The animal lover took matters into his own hands to save the dog, allegedly driving his black BMW sedan through the fence. Troopers say once Orchard got through this fence with his vehicle, he got out, went up to the back door, smashed through it and went inside to save the family's large white dog.

Orchard was charged with second-degree burglary and third-degree criminal mischief and put in the county jail on $15,000 bail. The dog was unharmed.

[Information from WNYT NewsChannel 13]

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