The San Jose Fire Department credits a smoke detector with saving the lives of a mother and daughter asleep in their home when it caught fire Friday morning.
"If she didn't have a smoke detector... we could have a whole different story on our hands," Fire Capt. Rob Brown said.
Mom and daughter, along with the family dog ,escaped safely from their ranch home on Mulberry Lane, where firefighters put out a two-alarm blaze that started before 7 a.m. Brown said the husband had already left for work. And by the time firefighters arrived, the fire was already burning through the attic and more than half the roof of their home.
Brown said the roof made of shake went up like a tinderbox.
The mother told firefighters that she doesn't know what started the fire. The fire department will investigate, but Brown said does not appear to be suspicious.
