Pueblo home escapes major fire damage, homeowner credits Amazon Alexa device

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- A Pueblo home escaped major fire damage Wednesday, after boxes left on the kitchen stove caught fire. Homeowner Kayla Yates said if it wasn't for the alert system on her Amazon Alexa device, her home wouldn't be standing.

"I was trying to hurry and I saw a flat surface. I set them down, ran out the door, got in the car and left," Yates said.

She had dropped off groceries on her stove while running errands Wednesday afternoon. It wasn't until she and her family were halfway across town, Yates said, that she realized something was wrong.

"I was like, well that's definitely the fire alarm. So, the first thing we checked was the baby's camera."

Her Alexa device had picked up noise from the fire alarm and sent alerts to her phone. After seeing smoke on the home camera system, Yates realized her kitchen was on fire. She then called 911 and rushed home.

"I hit the knob and it hardly turned. But, it turned on just enough to heat up that box and start a fire."

Within minutes the boxes on the stove were charred. Pueblo firefighters told Yates that if she had waited any longer, her entire kitchen could have gone up in flames.

"Luckily it was just a box. But, if it would have been five more minutes they said, our house would have had a ton of damage, if not worse."

Yates said she and her family hadn't even planned on returning home for at least another two to three hours. Thankfully, she said their home is still standing, only losing a few groceries.

According to the Pueblo Fire Department, this type of home fire is very common and instances like this serve as a good reminder to never store flammable items on the stove.