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A 97-year-old woman says her cat's early morning yowling saved her from a house fire. Grace George, of Independence, said her cat Boo Boo's yowling from an open bedroom window early Wednesday woke her up from a sound sleep.

"I got so aggravated," George said. "I didn't know why she was doing that."

George picked up the black and gold brindle, a stray she had taken in about 15 years earlier, and felt her way through the dark house until she reached the kitchen.

It was just 4 a.m., and she wanted more sleep. So she started to put the cat outside.

Then she smelled smoke.

"I knew I had to get out of the house," said George, seated Thursday on a sofa in her daughter's house, just down the block.

George ran toward the street in the rain, and flagged down the third car she saw.

"Thank God it was a lady," she said. "All I had on was bikini underwear and a tank top."

Firefighters got Boo Boo out of the house safely and administered oxygen.