Pet Theory Is That Fire Was Started by Pixie

VENTURA — It’s bad luck to let a black cat cross your path. On Thursday, Anna Kupfer learned that it may not be a good idea to let one cross your stove either.

Kupfer, 43, believes that a fire that caused $4,000 damage to her duplex at 276 Leighton Drive was caused by her black cat, Pixie.

At 10:30 a.m., the Ventura Fire Department received a report of a structure fire at the home Kupfer rents. Firefighters arrived to find smoke billowing from an open front window and roof vents, said Fire Department Capt. Myles Smith.

Smith said he and another firefighter used sledgehammers to get in the front door and found a small fire on the gas stove.

The fire was put out in less than a minute, but the unanswered question lingered--how did it start?

“We found no humans in there, but we found nine cats,” Smith said.

The front window was broken out, and the screen was on the ground. “We called the Police Department thinking that maybe it was a break-in,” Smith said. But it turned out that a neighbor had broken the window in an effort to save the cats.

Kupfer, a secretary with the Ventura County Public Works Agency and a volunteer with the Humane League, an animal rescue organization, told authorities the fire was probably caused by the cats.

“There was just a little debris on the burners, and she suspected the cats had knocked something over onto the stove,” Smith said. “They pretty much had the run of the house, and she said they enjoyed sitting on top of the stove because it was warm.”

Of all her cats, Kupfer said Pixie enjoys the warm stove most of all.

“The cat probably set the fire by turning on the stove,” she said. “This has never happened before. I think it is a fluke.”

While the home is being repaired, Kupfer will receive housing and food assistance from the American Red Cross, and the cats are in the care of the Humane League.

Smith said the fire caused $3,000 damage to the structure, $1,000 to the contents.

But no damage to the cats.

“They were a little covered with soot, but all nine were OK,” Smith said.

“We saved 81 lives today,” he said. “Nine cats with nine lives each.”

Keeping those lives clear of the stove may be difficult, though.

“There aren’t any doors on the kitchen, so there’s no way to keep them out of there,” Kupfer said.

From now on, she will look at cats on the stove in a whole new light.

“I’ll have to add that to the list of superstitions,” she said.