Cockatoo shouting 'incoming, incoming' helps saves family from fire

A Gwinnett County family has a teenage girl and a loud-mouthed bird to thank for alerting them to an early-morning fire. Grace George, 13, was getting ready for school when she noticed smoke coming from the utility room of the home on Pendale Drive near Lilburn at around 7 a.m. on Monday.

Grace ran upstairs and told her parents and grandparents about the smoke, then went back downstairs and began getting the family’s eight pets – four dogs, two cats and two birds – out of the house.



All the while, one of the birds, a cockatoo, did her part to sound the alarm, yelling over and over, “incoming, incoming,” according to Grace’s grandmother, Linda George. “She likes to watch TV and picks up words,” Linda George said of the bird. “I think she was trying to get our attention by screaming, ‘incoming.’”

Firefighters arrived and were able to contain the blaze to the utility room, although the entire house sustained smoke and water damage. “We’re fortunate,” said Kevin George, Grace’s father. "We're blessed. We could have been sleeping."

Many thanks Chris!