Royal Oak Home Badly Damaged in Fire

A Royal Oak couple returned from a trip up north to find their home badly damaged by fire after live power lines fell on their house Sunday. The good news? The family cat survived.

were called to the scene of a house fire on Woodslee the first block south of 13 Mile Road at 3:15 p.m. Sunday, Fire Chief Chuck Thomas said. Firefighters were unable to save the house, but they did save the family pet.

Neighbors called 911 when they noticed two downed power lines on the home of Sergey Smetanin who was in northern Michigan when the fire broke out. 

“The fire could have been going on a long time,” Thomas said. “We don’t know when it started because the homeowner was out of town.”

Firefighters were able to save two houses and four garages then.

The Smetanin family was not as lucky. It took DTE Energy almost 1 1/2 hours to arrive to cut down the power lines.

“The downed lines hampered our ability to fight the fire,” Thomas said. He says DTE doesn’t recommend using water to distinguish fires were downed lines exist. “Electricity will follow a line of water,” Thomas said. Firefighters had to contain the fire with short bursts of water to prevent being electrocuted until the lines could be cut.

DTE is looking at factors that contributed to the fire, DTE spokesman John Austerberry said Monday.

"What I can tell you is the 90 minute timeframe is not out of line," he said. "It's typical for a response time."

Where DTE workers come from and traffic conditions are all factors, Austerberry said. "They cannot exceed the speed limit or run red lights like the fire department can. The fire department has a short travel time, but we don't have the luxury of having workers in every community."

Smetanin was at his house early Monday morning assessing the damage. He was somber and said his wife is staying with her sister, unable to sleep she is so upset about the fire. Last night the family stayed at a hotel.

“If you look at my wife's hands, you will see them shaking,” he said.

Smetanin said the fire marshall placed padlocks on all his doors so he has not been able to see what damage has been done to his belongings. He can only look through windows.

“I just finished painting the hallway for my wife. It was a present for her,” he said as looked at the fire damage to the exterior of his house.

The homeowner’s 19-year-old son Dmitriy was at work at a Southfield hardware store when he got a phone call from a neighbor.

“They told me my neighbor’s house was on fire, so I left work to come home and help them,” he said. “When I got here, I realized it was my house. They didn’t want me to panic when I was driving here.”

Dmitriy Smetanin said he worried about two things: his cat Sable and that he somehow had started the fire. “I worried that I left a candle lit or something. I thought it might be my fault," he said.

The fire chief said the fire is under investigation by his department and DTE.

As for Sable, she is doing fine after firefighters rescued her from the house. Dmitriy Smetanin took her to the Veterinary Emergency Service in Madison Heights, where she was under the care of Dr. Schramm.

“She came in covered in soot,” Schramm said. “It was one of the worst cases I’ve seen.”

The feline seems to be doing fine, Schramm said. “We gave her a bath and had her on oxygen overnight,” she said. “This morning she is bright and alert and trying to eat us!”

The Smetanins say that is a good sign. “When we go into her cage, she hisses at us,” the doctor said. “She’s a sassy cat. When we talked to the family they said, ‘Yep. That’s her personality.’”

Chief Thomas said he doesn’t know how they do it, but cats often manage to find ways to survive. 

“They'll come out looking like a mess—all covered in soot, wet and dirty,” he said. "The fact that this cat could be saved is some good news."