GEAUGA COUNTY, Ohio — Many of us have thought of what we would try to save if our home caught on fire.
For a local 18-year-old, it was her cat, and it got her into trouble.
Geauga County Deputy Jake Smith was starting his shift when he received a call of a house on fire in Newbury Township.
It was the first time in his 12-year-career he was first on the scene of a fire where someone was trapped.
Inside, the girl was searching for her cat. Outside, her father was trying to break down their front door.
“I could see the whole room was full of smoke,” Smith said. “I got to the front door and she was at the door coughing and she was yelling for me to kick the door down.”
Smith threw is body into it, but the door would not budge.
“It’s an older farmhouse and the door is very solid,” he said.
That is when he broke through a ground floor window.
“I started shining my flashlight inside, yelling for her to come towards me and my light,” he said.
He soon saw the girl and pulled her out of the window, saving her life.
Twelve agencies responded. The cause of the fire is still not known.
Investigators believe it began in the kitchen and spread.
Everyone made it out safely—including the cat.