Accidental fire causes $20,000 worth of damage to residence

The fire was started by children playing with a cigarette lighter.
SALEM -- A teenage girl was rescued unharmed from the porch roof of her burning home and two younger siblings also escaped a Sunday morning fire at 305 W. Pershing St. without injury.
Salem Fire Department Lt. Shawn Mesler said the fire was started accidentally by children playing with a cigarette lighter that ignited clothing in the basement.
However, smoke from the blaze at the home of Michael and Michelle Bradway, reported at 8:03 a.m., forced Brittany Stenger, 15, to escape through a second-story window onto a porch roof, from which she was rescued by firefighters.
The other two children in the house at the time of the fire, Sage and Summer Bradway, ages 8 and 6, respectively, had already escaped by the time firefighters arrived. Two dogs, family pets, died in the fire. Michael and Michelle Bradway were not at home at the time of the fire.
Mesler said Brittany used a cell phone to call her mother about the fire, who called the police department, which in turn alerted firefighters.
Messler estimated damage to the home at $20,000. Fire damage was confined to the basement, but there was smoke damage throughout the two-story, wood-frame structure.