Man rescues pregnant wife, 2 children from burning home

A man, his pregnant wife and two young children were forced out of their Butler, Pennsylvania, home Tuesday morning by a fire.

>> Read more trending stories

Mike Atkinson said he heard his smoke detectors going off, but he didn't immediately know why. He went outside and saw smoke and flames pouring from a basement window of his East Brady Street home.

"You heard the glass crackling and breaking and everything," Atkinson said.

He ran back inside the house to get his wife and children.

"The kids were kind of scared at first," Atkinson said.  Something he thought was weather-related might have caused the fire.

"The police and everyone asked if we noticed our electric flickering, and we did, but we didn't think anything of it," Atkinson said. "We thought it was the weather, but apparently it wasn't."

The American Red Cross is helping the family. Atkinson said he doesn't know when the family will be able to return home.

"What we have on us is basically what we have right now," he said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

About the Author