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Oakland Twp. home damaged by fire, water

Firefighters from six departments respond to a house on fire on Chicora Road on Friday.
Firefighters try to resuscitate cat

OAKLAND TWP — Volunteer firefighters from six departments contained a fire to the basement of a home on Chicora Road on Friday, but one of the tenant's cats died and a second cat was unaccounted for.

The fire started shortly after 2 p.m. in the basement of a home at 385 Chicora Road. Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to the rest of the home, said Ken Blatt, assistant chief of the Oneida Valley Volunteer Fire Department.

“It started in the basement. Everything was contained to the basement,” Blatt said, but added that smoke and water damage occurred on the first floor.

The fire appeared to be accidental, but the cause hadn't been determined, Blatt said.

One cat died despite firefighters' resuscitation efforts, and the second cat was wasn't found, he said.

Victoria Cisneros said she had just returned home from a job interview in Butler and saw smoke billowing from the house she has rented for just four months.

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“There was just smoke rolling out,” Cisneros said.

She said her daughter was at her aunt's house while she was at the interview and wasn't home when the fire started, but her cats were in the home.

“I opened the door and yelled for them, but they didn't come out,” Cisneros said.

Cisneros said she had just recently bought new furniture and doesn't have renter's insurance.

Blatt said the American Red Cross was called to assist the family.

Volunteer fire departments from Lick Hill, Chicora, East Butler, Unionville and Herman also responded to the fire.

Chicora Road was temporarily closed to traffic while firefighters extinguished the blaze and some smoldering hot spots.

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