UPDATE: Four Birds Perish in Neuberry Court House Fire

Gur Kler tried to sleep Sunday night but kept dreaming she was hearing her pet birds screaming.

Her four birds, including two parakeets and two male cockatiels named Romeo and Bubba, died in a fire Sunday that blackened the Neuberry Court home Kler lives in with her mother.

"I loved my birds," Kler said as she stood in the entrance of her home Monday morning, heavy smoke still hanging in the air. "I taught them to talk and whistle. They would making kissing noises.

"How those little bitty things tried to get out ... I hate to think about it," Kler said.

The fire, the cause of which remains under investigation, started in the kitchen early Sunday afternoon. The kitchen table caught fire and collapsed, striking and knocking down an adjacent bird cage, which opened the top, allowing the birds to escape, Kler said.

But unable to get outside, the birds perished in the fire, with firefighters finding at least one, she said. 

Kler was attending religious services with her mother, having left the house about 11:30 a.m. She said she went to work, and her mother returned home about 2 p.m. to find smoke emanating from the garage and the smoke alarm sounding inside the house.

Her mother ran to a neighbor's home and then tried to go into the house to save the birds.

"But it was too smokey to get up the stairs," Kler said.

A total of 16 firefighters responded to the home at 15425 Neuberry Court and had the fire under control in about 10 minutes, Brookfield Deputy Fire Chief Colin Curtis said Sunday.

Fire officials were investigating whether a burning candle might have caused the fire, according to a fire department report. Damage was estimated at $125,000, with major kitchen damage from fire and smoke damage throughout the house.

Elm Grove firefighters provided mutual aid at Brookfield's Station No. 1, standing ready to respond to any other Brookfield calls. None came in during the three hours Brookfield crews were on the fire scene.

The kitchen sustained major fire damage and other parts of the home had smoke damage.

Kler said the smoke was so invasive that white walls and ceilings were black. Her bright lipstick-red laptop was black but working, although firefighters told Kler it likely would stop functioning after limited use.

But what upsets Kler and her mother beyond the death of the birds is the loss of souvenirs from India and the Taj Mahal. "And all of our picture frames melted and fell on the floor," she added.

The two, who have lived in the Neuberry Court house since 1996, stayed at a hotel Sunday night and said they have friends who will help them. Kler's father is overseas and her brother is living in a dorm at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She said they hadn't told him yet because he has midterm exams this week. 

Kler said she asked firefighters how to get the smoke smell out of her economics books, saying she didn't want to open them up in her classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and annoy her classmates.

But Kler said she is just relieved that she and her mother weren't home at the time of the fire.