貓咪化身救火英雄 保住全家性命

Escape by a whisker: Quick-thinking cat saves house from fire... by opening the window

A clever cat has been hailed a hero after he prevented his owners' home from burning down - by opening a window。

機靈貓咪化身救火英雄，情急之下開窗引來了鄰居的關注，最終使得一切化險爲夷。

Five-year-old Pepper has learned to open windows and lets himself out every night by hopping on to a kitchen worktop and using his paws to turn the latch。

So when a fire broke while his owners were Christmas shopping, the quick-thinking puss leapt into action and opened the window to allow the acrid smoke to escape。

貓咪“Pepper”已經五歲了，每晚他都會跑進廚房跳上桌子，用爪子撐開一扇小窗，然後堂而皇之的溜出去。着火的時候，他的主人一正外出採購，“胡椒”靈機一動打開窗戶，讓濃煙流了出去。

The billowing cloud of ash alerted neighbours and firefighters rushed to the scene and extinguished the blaze before it spread to the rest of the house。

Owner Sharon White, of Totnes, Devon said: 'He first did it (opened the window) at a dinner party and everyone was applauding him, I think it spurred him on。

'He can climb back in through the window by jumping diagonally on to the ledge as well so he really does come and go as he pleases。

'Pepper is still a bit spooked by the ordeal but is still managing to eat plenty of food.' Sharon and husband Phil, a radiologist at Torbay Hospital, Devon, were handed Pepper over four years ago after a neighbour could no longer look after it。

Pepper developed a 'fierce independent streak' and would often leave the house for days on end。

But over the last few months, he has become increasingly nomadic and has learnt to let himself out through the downstairs window by turning the metal lever 90 degrees with his paws

滾滾濃煙立刻引起了鄰居們的警覺，火警聞訊趕來，在火勢蔓延至整棟房屋之前將其撲滅。據“胡椒”的主人莎朗-懷特透露，“起初它是在一次晚餐時做出這一舉動的，大夥都爲他鼓掌喝彩，我想正是這鼓勵了他。只要‘胡椒’樂意，他可以通過小窗隨心所欲的竄出竄進，它多少被火災嚇到了些，不過還是照樣的很能吃。”四年前，一位無法繼續照看貓兒的醫生將它轉送給了懷特夫婦兩。“胡椒”性格“獨立好勝”，經常在會夜晚從家中“逃之夭夭”，而僅幾個月來，它越發的“散漫”，已經學會怎麼用爪子將小窗九十度的開啓，然後輕鬆通過。

The dramatic fire started at 4pm on Saturday after the couple nipped to the shops and left their microwave on a ten minute timer, which then caught fire。

Sharon, who owns a publishing consultancy, said: 'We put something in the microwave for ten minutes and then popped out to do our Christmas shopping in the local town。

'I discovered on the way that I had left my purse at home but decided not to turn around。

'It was my sister-in-law who lives next door that rang us about two hours into our trip and said you had better get home as there is quite a lot of smoke coming out of your house and the fire brigade are here。

'We are thankful our neighbours did not just dismiss the smoke as a bonfire.' Firefighters rushed to their ￡350,000 house and extinguished the flames before they could spread and the kitchen suffered only smoke damage. 'There is some damage to the kitchen but it was isolated so nothing compared to what it could have been。

上週天下午四點，出門購物前，夫婦兩將微波爐設定成“加熱十分鐘”的狀態，而後不料卻燒了起來，“我在半路發現沒帶錢包，但卻也沒有折回。”莎朗告訴記者，“住在隔壁的小姨子發現了從家裏冒出來的濃煙，幸運的是，他們沒有把這誤認爲篝火晚會。”及時趕到的火警撲滅了火苗，保住了這幢價值 350000英鎊的住宅，廚房也只是被煙燻了一薰。

''He's got a real mind of his own and is usually a bit of a pain. But on this occasion we're grateful as without him, and our neighbours, the fire could have been so much worse.'

“多虧了‘胡椒’和鄰居，否則後果可能將更加糟糕。’”