Cat avoids house fire by wedging into couch

Firefighters thought feline had perished, then found it after dousing flames

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updated 7:52 p.m. ET Aug. 13, 2007

WEST ORANGE, N.J. - A New Jersey cat may have only eight lives left after it survived a house fire by hiding in the couch.

Firefighters initially thought the feline, who belonged to one of the tenants in the two-story house, had been killed by flames and smoke Saturday night. But after putting out the blaze and surveying the damage, they found the cat wedged into the couch.

“To our amazement, it had survived,” Fire Chief Peter Smeraldo told The Star-Ledger of Newark. “They should change that cat’s name to Lucky.”

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No one was injured, and the cat’s owner, who was ecstatic to have the animal back, took the cat to stay at a relative’s house.

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