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There were no injuries, but Wednesday's fire destroyed the garage, a Jeep parked in the garage and a second-floor bedroom at Warren and Diane Busscher's home in Allendale, about 15 miles west of Grand Rapids, said Lt. Michael Keefe of the Allendale Fire Department.
Keefe said the couple and their three children were sleeping when Diane Busscher awoke to hear the family's black cat howling and screeching from the garage, where it spends its nights. She went to investigate her pet's cries.
When the woman opened the door to the garage, smoke started pouring inside, so she grabbed the cat and ran back through the house, waking up everyone and telling them to go outside. The home had working smoke detectors that apparently were not set off until the family was outdoors, Keefe said.
"Their statement to me is that the smoke detectors did not go off until they were outside," he said.
The fire department, which was dispatched to the scene shortly before 5 a.m., was trying to determine the cause of the fire. It originated in the garage but apparently was not started by the cat, Keefe said.
Telephone calls to the Busschers' house were met with busy signals.
[Associated
Press]
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