FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – A family is safe but in need of a new place to stay after a fire that sparked at their Fort Lauderdale home claimed the life of one of their pets.
The four teens who live at the home, a brother and three sisters, were setting up a gaming chair with some friends on Friday morning when, they said, the chair got really hot, started to smoke and then set the room on fire.
When the fire broke out, the teens tried to get their pets out and called 911.
In video provided by Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, firefighters could be seen resuscitating one of the family’s pets, a land tortoise named Franklin.
There were also three cats inside the home, and all but one made it out. The family said one of their felines, named Cheesecake, died in the fire.
Everyone else inside the home was able to make it out OK.
FLFR officials said the teens all did the right thing by getting out quickly and calling 911.
The teens said they initially thought about attempting to put the fire out themselves, but they knew that’s not what they should do and got out of the home.
The family was able to save some items from inside, but the interior of the home was heavily damaged.
The mother of the teens works at a veterinarian’s hospital and was at work when all of this happened.
She said she’s just thankful that her kids are OK and that most of their pets are OK, adding they just have to figure out where to go from here.
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