A smoke alarm alerted one woman who lived there to the fire, and she escaped with her three pets unharmed.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A family and three pets are without a home in South Norfolk caught fire on Friday.
The Chesapeake Fire Department said they were called to the 2600 block of Harling Drive around 12:30 after receiving multiple reports of a house fire showing from the back of a one-story home.
Crews from Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Norfolk were able to bring the fire under control in just 16 minutes, Chesapeake firefighters said.
One person was home at the time of the fire, but a working some alarm allowed for her and her three pets to evacuate safely before the fire department arrived.
The residents of the home are going to be displaced as the home is no longer livable, the Chesapeake Fire Department said, but they are making their own arrangements. Fire investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.
“This incident is a perfect example of why working smoke alarms save lives,” a spokesperson with the fire department said. “Early warning gave the resident enough time to escape safely, and that’s exactly the kind of outcome we hope for in every fire.”
