Mayor, aides help in fire rescue

PHILADELPHIA – The mayor of Philadelphia and two of his bodyguards happened upon a house fire and ended up rescuing a cat, helping a victim and warning neighbors, witnesses said.

Neighbor Dorothy Young said she saw the smoke Friday morning and went outside to find two children who lived in the house crying at the bottom of her steps.

“We were all in shock, just yelling and crying,” Young said.

Mayor John Street and two bodyguards, who had been walking to City Hall when they saw the burning home, rushed over to help, Young said.

The bodyguards carried a boy who suffered minor burns into Young’s home and went into the burning house to rescue a cat.

Street, clad in sneakers, sweats and a ballcap, began banging on doors and urging people to leave their homes.