FOREST PARK — A 5-month-old kitten saved a family of six from a burning house fire in Forest Park Saturday, March 4.
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Allysa John-Hall was woken up by her kitten, Nina, at around 5 a.m., WCPO reported. She initially thought that her kitten wanted to play.
“The kitten was just in my face,” John-Hall informed.
She subsequently arose from her bed and let her kitten outside. However, when she returned back into her house, she realized that her home was filled with smoke.
“I put her outside and I come back in, and I’m like, ‘It’s awfully smokey,’” she claimed. “I open back the door and it was just smoke. It came fast. It was just black, black smoke I couldn’t see.”
John-Hall’s husband Marc woke up after the other five members of the household began moving around. He then immediately ran down to the basement to make sure no one was there, WCPO wrote.
“I got hit with black soot. I mean I came out and I was just covered and the heat was just so intense,” Marc said. “I mean I thought I was on fire.”
The two parents and four children escaped their burning house with the kitten leading the way, WCPO stated.
Forest Park Fire were dispatched to the family’s home on Imprint Lane to fight the residential fire.
Flames were reportedly “shooting up from the basement and smoke was spreading to every room,” WCPO wrote.
While the mother focused on getting her children in the car, the kitten walked away, out of sight.
“I was like, ‘Where is she?’ Maybe she got scared. Maybe she’s hiding,” Allysa said.
The family later found out that the kitten went back inside to the spot she slept in every night in one of their son’s bedroom.
“That was her place,” Marc said. “She just went back to where she was comfortable I think.”
They buried the kitten in the backyard while claiming that she left a lasting impact, WCPO said.
Crews later determined that a malfunctioning water heater started the fire.
The family home still stands following the fire, but has sustained extensive damage with the basement destroyed, and the kitchen and right-side of the house significantly damaged.
Red Cross provided aid to the family with a week-long stay at a hotel.
The family says that although the incident was heartbreaking, they are still grateful.
“Thankful for our health that we’re all alive and well,” Marc said.
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