CHESTER HILL, Pa. - Mayor Karen Kephart escaped a house fire thanks to her cat.
Kephart said she doesn't usually close the bedroom door, but did the night she was awakened by her 3-year-old black-and-white cat, Nuggets, knocking on the door.
"I said, 'This is it,' " Kephart said Thursday from her sister's home. "I opened the door, she ran in and I stepped out. The whole hallway was filled with smoke."
The home had a smoke detector, Kephart said, but she did not hear it go off during Wednesday's fire. Unable to get downstairs because of the fire and smoke, Kephart yelled for help from a second-floor window until a neighbor brought a ladder, allowing Kephart and Nuggets to escape.
Rick Loughhead, fire chief for the Chester Hill Fire Company, said much of the first floor was gutted by the fire, which caused between $32,000 and $35,000 in damage. Knock knock...
Kephart said she doesn't usually close the bedroom door, but did the night she was awakened by her 3-year-old black-and-white cat, Nuggets, knocking on the door.
"I said, 'This is it,' " Kephart said Thursday from her sister's home. "I opened the door, she ran in and I stepped out. The whole hallway was filled with smoke."
The home had a smoke detector, Kephart said, but she did not hear it go off during Wednesday's fire. Unable to get downstairs because of the fire and smoke, Kephart yelled for help from a second-floor window until a neighbor brought a ladder, allowing Kephart and Nuggets to escape.
Rick Loughhead, fire chief for the Chester Hill Fire Company, said much of the first floor was gutted by the fire, which caused between $32,000 and $35,000 in damage. Knock knock...
