Brian Young was thanking his lucky stars Monday that the family cat, Berkeley, wanted breakfast early.
He says the hungry feline helped him, his wife Nancy and their son Nick get out before fire completely engulfed their house on Meech Avenue in North Sydney.
Young let the cat outside and drifted off to sleep before waking up to a whooshing sound of flames and the crackling of burning floorboards about an hour or so later.
He says he went downstairs to find a wall of flames before he rushed his wife and son out of the house and called 911 as the fast-moving fire destroyed part of the home.
Young, who served in the Progressive Conservative governments of former premiers John Buchanan and Donald Cameron, credits the cat with getting him up, preventing him from falling back into a deep sleep after that.
He says Berkeley took off after the fire, but returned and is being taken care of by neighbours while the family determines what will happen to their home.
Agencies/Canadajournal
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