Fire spokesman Ron Rouse says the cat — named Dude — was fine after the firefighters took him outside Wednesday evening and gave him some oxygen.
Rouse says the apartment resident had taken some warm clothes from the dryer and set them on a couch near some oily rags, then left the apartment. The spokesman says the combination of heat and the oily rags created spontaneous combustion. The apartment’s automatic sprinklers contained the fire to the couch.