Refrigerator motor starts Naperville townhouse fire

A refrigerator motor appears to be the cause of a house fire in Naperville that killed a pet cat and endangered a dog but didn't injure any people, authorities said.

Firefighters said they rescued the pet dog from a two-story townhouse on the 1200 block of Tennyson Lane that caught fire about 8:08 a.m. Saturday when no one was home. But when they made it to the scene at 8:14 a.m., it was too late for the cat, which was found dead in the home, Naperville Fire Department Bureau Chief Amy Scheller said in a news release.

The first firefighters on the scene found heavy smoke throughout the townhouse and determined it was coming from a fire in the kitchen. They searched and found no people in the home, and brought the fire under control within 20 minutes, authorities said.

The home suffered "extensive" fire and smoke damage and was deemed uninhabitable by a city building inspector. Adjoining townhouse units were not damaged, the fire department said.

Scheller said Monday the fire was determined to be accidental and investigators are zeroing in on the refrigerator motor as the likely cause.