Cat cries as fire burns

A stray kitten named Fluffy"woke a Summerville family very early Saturday, saving them from a fire that completely destroyed their split-level home.

Smoke alarms did not go off as the blaze spread through the attic, but a cat a neighbor described as "a big orange and white fluff ball" cried about 5 a.m. beside a sleeping Priscilla Reisman until she woke up.

"She's not really our cat, just a neighborhood cat that we put food out for. She's almost never in the house," said Reisman, who escaped the fire with husband, Hank, their 15-year-old son and their dog.

Priscilla Reisman put Fluffy outside just before discovering that the odd smell in the home off Old Trolley Road was smoke. Firefighters rescued two other cats, one of which firefighters resuscitated, that had hidden in bedding. A third cat, which belongs to Priscilla's sister — a Marine in Iraq — is missing.

Old Fort Fire Department Assistant Chief Joe Waters said a space heater in the garage started the fire. The blaze burned into a wall, up to the room over the garage, and spread in the attic over the length of the home. Summerville and Ashley River fire departments joined Old Fort at the scene, but the home and its contents were a total loss, Waters said.

The Reismans are staying at a Summerville hotel, where Priscilla recalled the frantic escape from the blaze. She said Fluffy has spent just seven to 10 nights inside the Reisman home in the past year. "She normally doesn't want to be in our house, except when its cold outside or raining really, really hard."

She said she awoke hearing Fluffy making a sound like crying. It wasn't the cat's normal meow. The home's smoke alarms hadn't sounded because the fire was mostly behind walls and in the attic, she explained.

She put Fluffy outside while wondering what was causing an odd odor. "I didn't necessarily interpret it as smoke," she said. But then she peeked in the garage and saw flames.

"It was very frightening," she said. The Reismans got a caged chipmunk out of the garage and made an unsuccessful stab at putting the fire out themselves. "I didn't realize that the whole upper floor (the front room over the garage) was on fire," she said.

The Reismans got their son and dog out but could not get to three frightened cats. Reisman said she thought she'd never see the cats again, but firefighters about an hour later rescued one and 20 minutes after got a second one. "It was limp and unconscious" but revived with some bottled oxygen, she said.

It's not known if the missing cat escaped the home, or if it is in the debris, she said. "The thing I am most upset about is it's my sister's cat and we have been watching it since she was in Iraq."

Neighbors have been asked to watch out for the cat, she said.

Brenda Myers, the Reisman's next-door neighbor, said she was amazed to hear how the Reismans became aware of the fire. Though there's no way of knowing if the fire is what prompted Fluffy to make the crying noise, there's no doubt the cat is a hero, she said.

"As far as I am concerned, Fluffy saved that family's life," Myers said.

Reach Edward C. Fennell at efennell@postandcourier.com or 937-5560.