Two kittens saved, one cat dead in afternoon house fire in Dayton

Firefighters removed two adult cats and two kittens from the house, but one of the adult cats did not survive. A dog was also rescued from the house.

“One of our medic crews has been giving oxygen to the cats since the crews pulled them out from the beginning,” said Dayton Fire District Chief Chris Kinzler.

Initially firefighters thought a person was trapped inside the house. However, crews did not find anyone inside when their search.

No firefighters were injured.

Kinzler praised crews for their work getting the fire under control. When first arriving at the scene, the district chief said he thought the fire had spread to the attic due to the heavy flames.

“Crews stopped it and they made a heck of a stop,” he said. “And the roof is still intact so that’s huge.”

Because the house is an older home, firefighters pulled siding from the left exterior to check for fire inside the walls, Kinzler said. While crews did find fire in the walls, the district chief said the house was not a total loss or a candidate for demolition.

Kinzler also stressed the importance of having working fire alarms inside homes.

“It’s typically the smoke that gets people,” he said. “If you have a smoke detector your chances of surviving are so much greater.”