PELL CITY – She thought she put the fire out, but there was still smoke and flames when she tried to go back inside to find her car keys.

“I was outside in the backyard with the puppies,” said Pam Knopps, who lives with her family at 150 Tumbleweed Lane. “When I came in I saw smoke.”

Knopps said when she searched for the cause of the smoke she saw flames at one of the wall plugs in the living room, behind a chair.

“I got the fire extinguisher, and thought I had put it out,” she said.

Knopps said she got her dogs and went to the car, then realized she didn’t have her car keys.

“I went to get the car keys, but couldn’t get back in because of the smoke,” she said. “I couldn’t breathe from the smoke and the fire extinguisher stuff.”

David Hurst, New London Volunteer Fire Department assistant fire chief, said the emergency call came in about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.

“When we arrived, there was light smoke showing,” he said. “At the point of entry, the front door, fire was coming out of the house.”

Hurst said the Pell City Fire Department and Regional Paramedical Services also responded to the call and provided mutual aid.

He said the cause of the fire is under investigation at this time.

Contact Elsie Hodnett at ehodnett@dailyhome.com.