Fire chief: Smoke detector saved life of woman who jumped from window to escape fire
DELHI TWP. — A smoke detector likely saved the life of a woman who jumped from the second floor of a townhouse Thursday morning after it caught fire, a fire official said.
Delhi Township Fire Chief Brian Ball said the woman was unable to get out of her home at the Huntley Villa housing complex through a doorway and jumped from a window. She suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital, he said.
"One of the best things to come out of this was the smoke detector is what woke her up and ultimately saved her life," Ball said. "It if wasn't for that, this would have been a fatal fire."
The fire started in the kitchen around 8 a.m. and extended to the second floor, Ball said. Firefighters brought it under control within about 15 minutes but stayed at the scene to make sure the fire was completely extinguished and get residents of neighboring units back into their homes, he said. Only the townhome that caught fire was unlivable.
One cat and several birds died in the fire, but firefighters were able to save a second cat, Ball said.
The cat was given oxygen using a donated "muzzle mask," Ball said. The mask had been donated by a nonprofit group and had never been used until Thursday, he said.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Smoke detector saved life of Holt woman who jumped from window to escape fire
