Weird news: Pet chicken fire alarm
A Wisconsin couple say clucks alerted them to the blaze in their home
By Associated PressTopics: Weird news of the day, Pets, Fire, Wisconsin, chicken, News
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Wisconsin couple says clucks, not fire trucks, helped them escape a blaze at their home.
Dennis Murawska, 59, said a pet chicken named Cluck Cluck woke his wife Susan Cotey, 52, with loud clucking from its cage in the basement two floors below about 6:15 a.m. Thursday. The couple’s two cats also were running around the main floor.
Murawska said he had been half awake but didn’t know about the fire because the smoke alarms hadn’t gone off. He realized something was wrong when his wife got up.
“The chicken gets quite vocal when she gets excited,” he said.
Cluck Cluck came from a nearby farm in Alma Center, about 135 miles east of Minneapolis, Murawska said. When the chicken began wandering over to his house, his neighbor said he could kill it because it wasn’t producing any eggs. But Murawska felt sorry for Cluck Cluck because she had a mutated foot and decided to keep her. He fed the bird and built a coop, and then his wife let Cluck Cluck into the basement on cold nights.
“I spent way more money than I ever should’ve,” Murawska said by telephone. “I guess it paid off.”
The couple escaped, and firefighters found the chicken in its cage and one of the cats alive in the basement. Another cat hasn’t been found and is presumed dead, Murawska said. The couple and their surviving cat checked into a Black River Falls hotel, while Cluck Cluck is staying with the neighbor who used to own her.
Alma Center Fire Chief Jeff Gaede said the fire started in the attic of the attached garage and was not suspicious. The house was a total loss, but it could have been worse — if not for the chicken.
“We are used to hearing about a dog or cat or something, but we’ve never heard of a chicken waking up a resident for a fire,” Gaede said. “That’s pretty amazing.”
Related Stories
-
Facebook brag about drunk driving gets teen arrested
-
California court: Victim wasn't married, rape conviction reversed
-
Must-see morning clip
-
Hugo Chavez fighting severe lung infection
-
Court upholds right to give police the finger
-
Indian politician accused of rape is stripped and publicly beaten
-
Economy added 155,000 jobs in December
-
Women's history pioneer Gerda Lerner dies at 92
-
India's top cop calls for rape crackdown
-
Taliban shooting victim Malala Yousufzai leaves UK hospital
-
Congress members seek investigation of Shell barge
-
Steady US hiring expected last month despite cliff
-
Rare San Francisco river otter stumps researchers
-
The Atlantic takes on the Atlantic's take on online dating
-
Rare San Francisco river otter stumps researchers
-
Tween booted off Facebook starts his own social network
-
Dumb tweet of the day: Colin Powell or Simon Cowell?
-
Al Jazeera different than Fox?
-
Adrian Lamo opens up about life after turning in Bradley Manning
-
Study: Recessions can be hazardous to kids' health
-
Google antitrust claims dropped by FTC
Featured Slide Shows
What To Read Awards: Top 10 Books of 2012 slide show
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 10
- Previous
- Next
-
10. "The Guardians" by Sarah Manguso: "Though Sarah Manguso’s 'The Guardians' is specifically about losing a dear friend to suicide, she pries open her intelligent heart to describe our strange, sad modern lives. I think about the small resonating moments of Manguso’s narrative every day." -- M. Rebekah Otto, The Rumpus
-
9. "Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter: "'Beautiful Ruins' leads my list because it's set on the coast of Italy in 1962 and Richard Burton makes an entirely convincing cameo appearance. What more could you want?" -- Maureen Corrigan, NPR's "Fresh Air"
-
8. "Arcadia" by Lauren Groff: "'Arcadia' captures our painful nostalgia for an idyllic past we never really had." -- Ron Charles, Washington Post
-
7. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn: "When a young wife disappears on the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary, her husband becomes the automatic suspect in this compulsively readable thriller, which is as rich with sardonic humor and social satire as it is unexpected plot twists." -- Marjorie Kehe, Christian Science Monitor
-
6. "How Should a Person Be" by Sheila Heti: "There was a reason this book was so talked about, and it’s because Heti has tapped into something great." -- Jason Diamond, Vol. 1 Brooklyn
-
4. TIE "NW" by Zadie Smith and "Far From the Tree" by Andrew Solomon: "Zadie Smith’s 'NW' is going to enter the canon for the sheer audacity of the book’s project." -- Roxane Gay, New York Times "'Far From the Tree' by Andrew Solomon is, to my mind, a life-changing book, one that's capable of overturning long-standing ideas of identity, family and love." -- Laura Miller, Salon
-
3. "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" by Ben Fountain: "'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk' says a lot about where we are today," says Marjorie Kehe of the Christian Science Monitor. "Pretty much the whole point of that novel," adds Time's Lev Grossman.
-
2. "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel: "Even more accomplished than the preceding novel in this sequence, 'Wolf Hall,' Mantel's new installment in the fictionalized life of Thomas Cromwell -- master secretary and chief fixer to Henry VIII -- is a high-wire act, a feat of novelistic derring-do." -- Laura Miller, Salon
-
1. "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo: "Like the most remarkable literary nonfiction, it reads with the bite of a novel and opens up a corner of the world that most of us know absolutely nothing about. It stuck with me all year." -- Eric Banks, president of the National Book Critics Circle
-
Recent Slide Shows
-
What To Read Awards: Top 10 Books of 2012 slide show
-
Blue Glow TV Awards: Top 10 Shows of the Year
-
The Week in Pictures
-
The Week in Pictures
-
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 10
- Previous
- Next
-
The Week in Pictures
-
The Week in Pictures
-
Meet this season's 10 TV scene-stealers and scene-killers
-
The Week in Pictures
-
Great graphic novels from 2012
-
The Week in Pictures
-
Gladwell, Franco, Patti Smith: These books changed me
-
Was I right? Six new TV series reassessed
-
Salon's Sexiest Men of 2012
-
Cinema's 11 most memorable LGBT villains
-
The Week in Pictures
-
The Week in Pictures
-
Sandy, the day after
-
Transit in trauma
-
Sandy's shocking aftermath
-
The best storms in cinematic history
-
Chris Christie reports in casual-wear
-
Lou Reed's been terrible for years!
-
The Week in Pictures
-
Susan Isaacs loves a rogue: Here are her nine favorites
-
The Week in Pictures
Related Videos
More Related Stories
Most Read
From Around the Web
Malala Yousafzai is discharged from UK hospital (VIDEO)
Thailand deports Rohingya "boat people," despite international opposition
Chatter: Hugo Chavez battling severe lung infection
Italian soccer team leaves stadium after racist taunts are leveled against African player (VIDEO)
December US jobs report: 155K new jobs added
WATCH: Joe Biden's wackiest one-liners from swearing in the 113th Congress
Is gridlock inevitable in the 113th Congress?
Why repeating your message isn't the same as staying on message
Caption contest winners: Bo the bunny
The controversial, Anonymous-leaked video of Steubenville High School athletes mocking a rape victim



Comments
6 Comments