A Mansfield resident was able to escape a small house fire early Wednesday morning without harm thanks to a free smoke detector installed previously by Newton County firefighters.

The smoke detector alerted the woman to a fire, and she left her Kellogg Street home and called 911, said Lt. Cydnie Taylor-Ridling, the county's fire and life safety educator.

In a stroke of good luck, the fire actually burned through the water supply line running to the toilet, which extinguished the fire before firefighters even arrived. The damage was contained to the bathroom, Taylor-Ridling said in an email.

The fire detector was installed Nov. 10, 2010 by firefighters Bill Langston and Travis Swords of Station 6 on Ga. Highway 213 in Mansfield.

Newton County firefighters have installed approximately 780 smoke detectors since the Fire Death Prevention/Smoke Alarm Incentive Program began in 2008. The grant is funded program by the Georgia Division of Public Health's Injury Prevention section.