Fire department says family had 4-minutes to escape burning house, family says new kitten saved their lives



DIXON, Illinois (WQAD) -- Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, but a couple in Dixon, Illinois says an unlikely hero saved their life.

On the night of September 28, 2014, when Kris and Crystal Horton were asleep in bed, their newly adopted kitten, August, awoke Kris.

"I saw him standing over me and as I began to sit up and get out of bed, he was staring at the bedroom door," Kris said, laughing as she sat in her sister's home where she is currently living.

When Kris got up and looked out the bedroom door, she immediately knew something was wrong.

"I saw that the living room looked kind of hazy; I went to the kitchen and that's where I saw the fire," Kris said.

Kris awoke Crystal, they grabbed August and frantically escaped the house. According to Crystal, they got out just in time.

"The fire department said that we had four minutes tops to get out," Crystal recalled. "We were lucky."

Since that day, August has become a local celebrity. He's received several gifts and local media exposure.

When the Hortons adopted August, they said they never would have imagined that he would eventually save their lives.

August is their hero.