Mom and kids get out of Burton home at the smell of smoke

A Burton mother and three kids got out of a Cleveland Drive house when mom smelled something burning Monday morning.

A small fire had started in an electrical outlet behind the refrigerator in the kitchen shortly before 11:30 a.m., according to a Burton Fire District news release. Firefighters found it after using a thermal imaging camera and extinguished the fire after shutting off the power and unplugging the fridge.

The wiring was charred and part of the outlet had melted, but damages didn’t go any further than that, according to the release. There weren’t any working smoke detectors in the house, so firefighters installed one before they left.

“Obviously if this occurred at 2 a.m., an electrical fire in the wall of a home with sleeping children and no smoke detector could have had a tragic ending,” fire district spokesman Daniel Byrne said.

Anyone living within the Burton Fire District who is in need a smoke detector can email safetyed@burtonfd.org.

This story was originally published May 22, 2017 at 8:28 PM with the headline "Mom and kids get out of Burton home at the smell of smoke."