That smoke detector -- one of hundreds available each year through a grant to the city's fire department -- might have saved his life Saturday morning.

Harris awoke to find the living room at his East Durham home on fire but escaped with only minor burns, according to fire officials.

Harris was asleep in his den at 1211 Park Ave. just after 7 a.m. when he heard the beeping of his new smoke alarm, said his daughter, Antoinette Daye.

"At first, he thought it was his wristwatch," Daye said. "He saw he wasn't wearing the watch and got up."

Harris walked into his smoky living room, part of which was in flames. He tried to pull open the house's front door to get to a fire extinguisher on the porch, but the door had melted shut, Daye said. Harris finally got out of the house through the basement, and a woman sleeping in a room above the living room climbed out a window. She was not hurt.

Investigators had not determined Saturday what caused the fire, but Daye said her father got up early Saturday morning to fill a kerosene heater in the living room and might have spilled some fuel.

When firefighters arrived at his house, Harris told them they had provided his smoke detector, which replaced an old, unreliable one. He had received it during a fire-prevention program at his church, Daye said.

"It's a perfect example of how a smoke detector can awake you and you can safely exit," said Durham fire Capt. Dan Cremeans.

The incident was a lesson to Harris' family to pay attention to fire safety, Daye said, as well as the use of portable heaters. "A lot of seniors have them," she said. "Being on a fixed income, you do what you have to to stay warm." But Daye and her father will be looking for an alternative, she said. Residents seeking a smoke detector or fire safety tips and tools are asked to call their local fire departments.