Lafayette Family Escapes Burning Home

A Lafayette family was able to get our of their burning home early this morning, but they did lose a pet cat to the flames.

According to Lafayette Fire Department Public Information Officer Alton Trahan, the wife of Steven Manual smelled smoke at about 4:30 this morning, and she woke her family up.

When firefighters got the scene of the blaze in the 200 block of Belle Homme Drive, flamed could be seen coming through the roof of the home, and there was a car under their carport that was also on fire.

The fire was not contained just to this property however, as the home next door ended up being so hot that it actually caused damage to the neighbor's house.

The culprit of this fire according to Trahan was some sort of malfunction that occured with the water heater in the home.

The fire started in the laundry room. It spread to other parts of the home, and the result was that two vehicle and the whole home received heavy fire damage according to Trahan who is also a fire investigator.

The couple and their three children were all able to make it out of the home, and they were outside when firefighters responded to the scene. They also were able to get their two dogs out of the home.

Firefighters battled the different blazes in the home and the vehicle for about twenty minutes before they were able to get the scene under control.

No one in the family was injured as a result of this fire, and the cause of the blaze was ruled accidental.