Cat wakes Oklahoma family during late night house fire

Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A family in Oklahoma said their cat helped save them during a house fire by warning them about the blaze.

The Bellevue couple and their two cats made it safely out of the burning home, as fire crews arrived at the scene at about 12:20 a.m. on Wednesday.

Bellevue Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Wagner said the husband told him one cat hopped on his chest to wake him up and he then looked down the hallway where he spotted the bright orange glow of the flames.

The man promptly woke up his wife and the couple sprinted outside the house where firefighters soon arrived and quickly extinguished the blaze.

Firefighters said the fire was likely started by a lit cigarette that was discarded into a coffee can and set the front porch aflame before spreading through the siding and overhead to the attic.

Fire officials said the smoke detector in the couple's kitchen didn't have a functioning battery, so the family was lucky the cat woke them up before the flames reached the area over the couple's bedroom and collapsed the roof.

"That cat probably heard something, checked it out and thought, 'Where is everybody and why are we still here?'" Wagner said.

The fire caused significant smoke and water damage to the first floor of the home, but the couple and their two cats were unharmed.