Neighbor wakes girl from burning West Toledo home

Brittany Katafiasz, 17, watches Toledo firefighters extinguish her home this morning.

The Blade/Dave Zapotosky
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Kerry Katafiasz shows a relieved smile as she explains to someone on the phone how Cecil McCourt, who lives on nearby Breezeway Dr., alerted her sleeping daughter Brittany, 17, of the fire.

A 17-year-old girl escaped unhurt from a burning house in West Toledo this morning after a neighbor banged on the doors and woke her up. She was home alone.

Brittany Katafiasz, 17, watches Toledo firefighters extinguish her home this morning.

Brittany Katafiasz was sleeping in her mother s house at 2840 Trimble Rd. near Breezeway Drive about 8:20 a.m. this morning when a neighbor noticed heavy smoke, called 911, and ran over to bang on the doors of the single-story frame building.

"I was having breakfast with a three-year old boy when he saw black smoke. There s smoke over there, he said," said Cecil McCourt, 83, who lives across the street from where the fire broke out. The boy was visiting with Mr. McCourt.

"I rushed over there and I started knocking on the doors though I wasn t sure if anybody was in. Finally the girl came out."

A Toledo firefighter enters the burning Katafiasz home this morning.

Before running out of the burning house, Brittany called her mother on the phone. Ms. Katafiasz, who owns the house, later joined her daughter at the scene, Mr. McCourt said.

Firefighters had the blaze under control within 25 minutes, a Toledo fire dispatcher said. The cause of the fire is being investigated. A damage estimate was not available.

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