A cat hero rescues owner!
I read this today in the local paper online. Yea for the kitty!!!
Denyce
Alert cat saves life of sleeping owner
By Lara Brenckle
[email protected]
CHESTER HILL - Less than two days after a house fire killed twin boys in South Philipsburg, the mayor of Chester Hill, just across the Moshannon Creek, escaped a blaze Wednesday night thanks to a wake-up call from her cat and help from a quick-thinking neighbor.
Karen Kephart, who is the sister of Centre County Commissioner Scott Conklin, said she was just dozing off when her 3-year-old black-and-white cat, Nuggets, started banging on her second-story bedroom door.
Kephart usually leaves her bedroom door open, allowing her cat to wake her by head-butting her in the morning. That evening, though, Kephart had closed the door, and said she thought her cat was "going nuts."
"I said, 'This is it,'" Kephart said Thursday in a telephone interview from the house of her sister Cindy. "I opened the door, she ran in and I stepped out. The whole hallway was filled with smoke."
Kephart could not exit through a back bedroom window of 613 Decatur St. because of an air-conditioning unit. She made it to a side bedroom and started screaming for help.
One neighbor brought a ladder and helped Kephart and her cat to safety.
Rick Loughhead, fire chief for the Chester Hill Fire Co., came upon the fire about 10 p.m., as he was driving home for the evening.
Fire companies were being dispatched at about that time.
Loughhead said the fire, which he believes originated in the kitchen, was under control by 1:15 a.m.
He estimated that there is between $32,000 and $35,000 damage to the structure. The downstairs is completely gutted, he said, and the second floor sustained heavy smoke damage.
"A good job was done by the firefighters in the extreme heat," Loughhead said. "They were able to save the structure and keep it (the fire) from spreading to adjacent structures."
Kephart did have insurance on the home and said it would be up to the company to determine if the house, in which she and her four siblings grew up, is salvageable.
Nuggets is staying with Kephart's daughter until more permanent housing arrangements can be made.
Kephart said she did have a smoke detector in her home but did not hear it go off during the fire.
Conklin went on a local radio station Thursday morning with an offer to buy a smoke detector for anyone in Centre County who cannot afford one.
He said the tragic loss of life Monday night and the close call of his sister prompted him to make the offer.
Anyone interested may call the commissioner's office at 355-6700.
The cause of the Walnut Street fire that killed Nathan and Noah Johnston will not be known until at least next week, according to Philipsburg Fire Chief Jeffrey Harris.
There were smoke detectors installed in the home, but it was not immediately known if they were working, he said.
