CAMOGLI, ITALY - There was a fire on Wednesday, December 2.
An elderly woman was napping as flames began to engulf her house in north-west Italy. Luckily her cats were on hand to wake her up, allowing her to escape the blaze.
The fire broke out on Wednesday night at her small home in the small fishing village of Camogli, in the Liguria province of Genoa.
The woman, who lived there with only her cats, was sleeping as flames and smoke spread through the building, but fortunately she was saved by a fire alarm of an unusual sort.
Il Secolo XIX reported that her kitty companions tried to alert her to the blaze with their persistent, loud and demanding meows. When that didn’t work, one of the cats jumped onto her lap to wake her up. It was then that she was then able to get to safety and call the fire department.
Local firemen were joined by emergency services from a nearby town called Chiavari, Rapallo and Genoa to stop the flames spreading to neighboring houses.
The woman’s home sustained very serious damage, with the roof completely collapsing.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but one thing is certain - this woman has a lot to thank her cats for.
Sometimes we save them but usually they save us.