Cat Credited With Waking Up Bremerton Woman Amid Fire
BREMERTON —
In a rare role reversal, it was the cat who helped out the firefighters.
More importantly, it was a cat who saved a woman's life with what would normally be a routine annoyance for cat owners — the early-morning face pawing.
Around 6:45 a.m. Saturday, an elderly Bremerton woman's Veldee Avenue home filled with smoke billowing through the vents from the home's heater.
The smoke alarm was going off, but she didn't hear it.
Good thing she has a cat.
The feline, whose name was not immediately available, leapt on the woman's bed and pawed at her face until she woke up.
"If the cat hadn't woken her up, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have made it," Bremerton Fire Department Lt. Charlie Rinard said.
The woman showed signs of smoke inhalation, he said. In most fatal fires, smoke kills the victim, not flames.
The cat left the building with its owner and was OK after the fire.
The fire was contained inside the heater and firefighters cleared the smoke from the home, but it will probably require further cleaning, Rinard said.
"It could have been worse," he said.