A La Mesa woman was hospitalized for smoke inhalation after she ran into an apartment on fire to rescue her cat.
The fire damaged an upstairs apartment in the 8100 block of Lemon Ave. just after 4:30 a.m. Monday.
Heartland Fire & Rescue crews reported seeing heavy smoke coming from the two-story, 10-unit apartment complex. They had the fire under control within 15 minutes.
The 38-year old woman living in the apartment ran back inside to find her cat before firefighters arrived.
She was sent to UCSD to be treated for smoke inhalation. The cat was later found dead, overcome by smoke, according to fire crews.
There was no working smoke detector found in the unit, according to a news release from Heartland Fire.
