Cat Alerts Four of a House Fire

Their getting out safely is credited to their cat.

Around 6:42 a.m. the Chattanooga Fire Department was called to a residence on Browntown road with four other fire companies.

According to Battalion Chief Don Bowman most of the house was fully engulfed in flames when the first firefighters arrived on the scene.  The firefighters eventually got the blaze under control, but the house was considered a total loss.

The house was rented by four adults, 3 males and 1 female.

The female occupant said her cat woke her up by meowing and licking her face.  She then realized the house was on fire.  She woke up her fellow tenants and they all got out safely.

One of the men went back in searched for the cat, but was forced out by the smoke and heat.  That individual was later transported to a local hospital for smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.  Volunteers with the American Red Cross of Southeast Tennessee were called in to provide assistance to the victims.  

The firefighters did not find the cat in the house.

Chief Bowman said the cat may have run out of the house and into some nearby woods.