Fire ruins home on Northwest 10th Street in Cape Coral, kills 2 cats

A fire on Northwest 10th Street in Cape Coral left two people and their dog without a home and killed their two cats on Monday night.

According to the Cape Coral Fire Department, firefighters responded to the fire around 8:30 p.m. Heavy smoke was pouring from one corner of the building when they arrived.

Crews were able to extinguish the fire and keep it from spreading to the other half of the home.

Two people, a dog, two cats and a turtle were home at the time of the fire. The occupants were alerted to the fire by their smoke alarms and safely evacuated the home with their dog.

People in the neighborhood did not get a lot of rest overnight because of the fire.

“We heard the fire trucks, we thought it was on the street behind us. We realized it was the fire trucks right here. And it was pretty scary, felt for them. I know it’s a mom and a son lives there,” said Leanne Fontaine.

Fontaine is happy to know that both the mom and son escaped the flames, and their dog did too.

Two cats died in the fire, and the family’s turtle is missing.

The Cape Coral building inspector decided the fire and the smoke damaged the house to the point that no one could live there.

Vivienne Dodson said she is grateful matters are not worse. “I’m happy to know that everybody made it out OK. It’s sad that they lost animals, but at least they saved themselves. ”

The state fire marshal didn’t need much time to determine that the fire was caused by an electrical device left charging on a bed.

Dodson said they figured it might be something like that. “It smelled horrible. It smelt like, there was like wires burning.”

Neighbors say they won’t leave so many electrical devices plugged in.

“It freaked me out. I’m ready to, you know, unplug some appliances, unplugged charger, you know, I don’t you know, it does freak you out,” said Fontaine.

There were no injuries, and the Red Cross is assisting the family with temporary housing.