A kitty named Gir alerted her family to a fire in their West Manchester Township, PA home Sunday night, and is being credited with saving their lives though she lost her own.
Jordan Rupp and his partner Dani Kaufman were in their bedroom Sunday night when Gir scratched at the door. Dani had smelled smoke but the couple dismissed it when they didn’t find any cause in the room. When they opened the door in response to Gir’s scratching, the cat ran in and the room filled with smoke. Jordan removed the air conditioning unit, helped Dani, who is nearly 9 month’s pregnant, out the window to a porch roof overhang, went to 3 year old Trystan’s bedroom and got him out, then went out the window, himself.
Firefighters rescued the family from the front porch area and extinguished the fire. As of this morning, the exact cause of the fire had not been determined, but it is considered accidental. The fire started on the back porch and spread through the kitchen.
Jordan said today that if Gir had not become agitated and scratched at the bedroom door, “We probably would’ve just laid down and gone to sleep.” He credit’s Gir with saving the family’s lives. Gir and the family’s other cat, Vader, perished in the fire. Reports do not say why the family was unable to save the cats; whether the rooms had become too smoke filled to find them, or they were panicked and couldn’t be picked up. Sadly, the cats were somehow unable to even jump out the open window by themselves.
The house, which was occupied by Dani and Jordan but owned by Dani’s mother,who lives in Harrisburg, sustained around $100,000 in damage is is currently unlivable. The first floor has fire damage and the second floor has water damage and damage from the fire’s heat.
