BRIDGEPORT — It may be true that it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness, but a Coleman Street woman could be forgiven a harsh word or two after the cigarette lighter she used to illuminate a search for her cat under the bed accidentally set it ablaze late Monday.

The resulting fire killed the cat and left the woman and four others in the apartment homeless, said Assistant Fire Chief Bruce Porzelt. None of the occupants of the home were identified.

The Southeastern Fairfield County chapter of the American Red Cross found temporary housing for the five people displaced by the fire, Porzelt said.

Before the blaze burned out of control, the woman tried to extinguish it herself, Porzelt said. When her attempt failed, she called 911 to summon emergency help.

But the delay allowed the fire to spread, he said.

"The flames were 20 feet in the air" when firefighters arrived, Porzelt said.

The fire broke out shortly after 11 p.m. in the second-floor apartment at 255 Coleman St.

No one was injured, and firefighters brought the fire under control by 11:17 p.m.

The second floor of the 2-story, wood-frame structure sustained fire damage and the first floor had water damage, according to Porzelt.

The cat was the second feline to die in a fire Monday night.

A cigarette ignited a couch at 7:16 p.m. in an apartment in the Greene Homes public housing complex, while a cat was trapped in the apartment. Firefighters tried for 10 minutes to revive it with a special feline resuscitation mask.

— AARON LEO