Monkey Proves To Be A Lifesaver For An Oklahoma City Family

It wasn't a smoke detector, but a service monkey in training that saved an Oklahoma City family when their home caught fire early Friday morning. The high pitch screams of Ahlliah, the monkey, woke

Friday, February 2nd 2007, 8:30 am

By: News On 6

It wasn't a smoke detector, but a service monkey in training that saved an Oklahoma City family when their home caught fire early Friday morning. The high pitch screams of Ahlliah, the monkey, woke the Marksherry family.

Their home was filled with flames and smoke, but the owner did have enough time to get her family and her pets to safety.

Firefighters say the fire started in an add-on room on the left side of the house, an area that previously had electrical problems. The fire was contained in that area but the rest of the house received considerable smoke damage.

Misty Marksherry says if it had not been for Ahlliah, things could have ended up much worse. â€œI'm trying to train her to be a service animal for my little boy who has epilepsy and CF. He has a breathing machine and pulsox and feeding pumps and he has what they call a vest and vibrates him to break up the mucus in the lungs.â€

The family did lose all of their medical equipment in the fire and they don't have insurance.