Fire investigation underway after Columbus mother and child escape blaze

COLUMBUS, Ind. (WISH) — An fire investigation is underway after a Columbus woman and her child escaped their flaming home Tuesday morning.

Columbus firefighters were called to the 1400 block of Chestnut St., off 15th Street, at 10:02 a.m. on a report of a house fire. Firefighters found heavy fire pushing from the front of the single story home, which was beginning to melt the siding on another house.

Firefighters quickly began to attack flames from the exterior of the home with one water stream focused on the 1462 Chestnut Street fire and an additional line cooling the siding at the 1466 Chestnut Street home.

According to fire investigators, the woman said that she was in the home’s kitchen when she smelled smoke. She told investigators that she then looked into the home’s living room where she found thick smoke and flames. She attempted to pour a pitcher of water on the flames but had to retreat due to the smoke and heat intensifying so quickly.

That’s when the woman and her child escaped the rear door of the home and ran to a neighbor’s home to report the fire and call 9-1-1. The woman and her child were assessed by emergency medical technicians who arrived at the scene and were uninjured.

When firefighters went inside the home on fire to conduct a search, they found several dead cats.

The fire was brought under control within minutes of firefighter’s arrival and the occupants of the home fire were located saf...