Kaohsiung woman sentenced for house fire started by her cat

Taipei, May 28 (CNA) A Kaohsiung woman was sentenced to 30 days in prison, commutable to a fine, for endangering public safety following a kitchen fire that broke out when her cat turned on an induction cooker .

According to the Kaohsiung District Court, the 24-year-old defendant, surnamed Chen (陳), and her 27-year-old roommate and friend, surnamed Hung (洪), took a trip to northern Taiwan on January 6, 2023. , leaving their four cats at their apartment in Sanmin district of Kaohsiung.

On January 8, a fire broke out in the apartment, burning the area around their induction cooker before triggering the building's sprinkler system, which extinguished the fire.

A subsequent investigation by the Kaohsiung Fire Department concluded that one of the cats started the fire, likely by pushing a wire mesh from the counter onto the stove and then pressing the stove's power button to ignite it. .

The wire mesh heated up on the stove, then ignited other nearby items on the counter, firefighters said.

In its verdict, the court said Chen's negligence allowed the fire to start, endangering other residents of the building. Without the building's automatic sprinklers, the fire could have caused significant damage, even injuries or deaths, according to the press release.

Hung, who was also charged in the case, is being tried separately.

The verdict can be appealed.