BELFAST — Officials said a woman was injured and a cat perished in a Friday night house fire in downtown Belfast.

Chief Jim Richards of the Belfast Fire Department said that Pamela Callaway, in her 60s, was able to flee her burning Pearl Street home and seek help at her next-door neighbor’s house. The fire was reported at 9:18 p.m., and when crews arrived they found flames shooting out the living room windows.

Richards said the fire was largely contained to that room, although the rest of the house was badly damaged. The cat was found upstairs, he said.

Callaway suffered from smoke inhalation and burns to her legs. Her hair also was singed in the flames, he said.

“There was a tremendous build-up of heat and smoke,” he said.

An investigator with the Maine State Fire Marshal’s office was at the house Saturday morning, searching for the cause of the blaze. Ruined furniture, the couch black with smoke damage, a table blistered from the heat, was on the lawn. Richards said that the house was not a total loss. He did not know if it was insured.

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