Five people were displaced after two fires damaged homes in Tucson on Saturday morning, Fire Department officials said.
The first blaze occurred around 3:30 a.m. in a foothills home in the 4500 block of East River Road. Four family members and three dogs escaped unharmed, but the family cat was still missing Saturday night, said Deputy Chief James Stoltenberg, a Rural/Metro Fire Department spokesman.
The home sustained significant damage by the time firefighters arrived, Stoltenberg said. Fire officials said they thought an electrical malfunction in the attic caused the fire but were still investigating.
The family will be staying with relatives, Stoltenberg said.
About 9 a.m., an electrical fire at a midtown home caused $50,000 in damage, fire officials said.
Faulty wiring in a refrigerator in the home most likely caused the fire, said Capt. Trish Tracy of the Tucson Fire Department. Damage to the home is estimated to be $30,000; lost contents account for another $20,000.
A man in the home was inside when the blaze began but was not injured; he is staying with family or friends, Tracy said. A woman living in an adjacent guesthouse, which was not involved in the fire, will remain there, Tracy said.
The home had a smoke detector, but it was not working properly, a fire official said. Tracy urged Tucsonans to test their smoke detectors once a month and to replace the batteries once a year.