Brave six-month-old kitten dies after saving family of six from devastating fire in their home in Ohio
FOREST PARK, OHIO: A family of six would have died in a horrifying fire that destroyed their home had it not been for their pet kitten. On Saturday, March 4, around 5.00 am, Allysa John-Hall said that six-month-old Nina, who she assumed was trying to play, woke her. She said, "The kitten was just in my face." After getting up to let the cat out outdoors, she saw something was wrong when she returned inside.
John-Hall said, "I put her outside and I come back in and I'm like, 'It's awfully smokey,'" adding, "I open back the door and it was just smoke. It came fast, it was just black, black smoke I couldn't see." The basement was on fire, and smoke was filling the entire house. The family eventually found out from fire department that a malfunctioning water heater caused the incident.
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'I mean I thought I was on fire'
John-Hall husband's Marc reportedly said that he awoke when he heard the others moving about. He hurried down to the basement to make sure no one was there. Marc said, "I got hit with black soot, I mean I came out and I was just covered and the heat was just so intense. I mean I thought I was on fire," per WCPO.
Nina led the way outdoors as the couple and their four young children left the burning house. While John-Hall concentrated on loading her children into the car, Nina fled from view. Soon firefighters took over but Nina was no where to be seen.
'Where is she?'
After incident, John-Hall said, "I was like, 'where is she?' maybe she got scared, maybe she's hiding." However, the family found that Nina had died in the fire despite guiding them out. She had ran back inside at some time during the fire. She usually slept in one of their son's rooms. Hall said, "Marc found her and she had passed away."
The family believed Nina must have hurried back inside to see if their oldest child was still inside as they left the house. They said that the bedroom belonged to both her and their oldest child equally. The family started a GoFundMe to aid with expenses, per Fox News.