Urinating cat, not fire, caused smoke in Pa. home

[January 21, 2012]  NEW CASTLE, Pa. (AP) -- One western Pennsylvania fire department learned that there's not necessarily fire wherever there's smoke.

New Castle's assistant fire chief Jim Donston tells The Associated Press that firefighters were called when an electrical outlet on a floor was smoking, only to find that happened because the family's cat urinated into the outlet.

The New Castle News (http://bit.ly/zHd1RS) first reported the incident Friday and Donston supplied more details to the AP.

The assistant chief says a Columbia Gas worker was at the house checking for a possible leak when he noticed the smoking outlet and called the fire department Wednesday about 7:30 p.m.

Donston says firefighters "found the receptacle wet from cat urine" and shut off the electrical supply to that circuit.

___

Information from: New Castle News, http://www.ncnewsonline.com/

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.