YOUNG SON ALERTS MOM TO FIRE

As a fire climbed up from a basement to an attic Saturday, a deaf woman who was alone in her parents' house couldn't hear a smoke alarm, Cape Girardeau firefighters said.

Veronica Cooper was asleep in a bedroom at 214 S. Park St. while her parents made a short shopping trip and her young son, Chad Robinson, played outdoors.

When Robinson came into the living room, it was cloudy with smoke and the smoke alarm was beeping.

Although he said he was afraid, Robinson went into the bedroom and shook her awake, Cooper said.

Cooper ran out with her son and called 911 at 4:20 p.m. from a neighbor's house.

When firefighters arrived, small fires were burning in the basement and living room, Capt. Charles Brawley said.

"We didn't have a lot of fire when we got in there," he said.

The fire had started in the basement between a dresser and a bed, then spread to the ceiling, Brawley said. From there it moved up through interior walls of the brick home and into the ceiling.

The basement had moderate damage from the flames; the living room had heavy heat and smoke damage. Less air was available in the basement to keep the fire burning, he said.

Brawley estimated damage to be between $20,000 and $30,000.