Dog Alerts Woman to Calif. Fire That Kills 100 Cats
Source San Jose Mercury News
July 16--SAN JOSE -- Nearly 100 cats perished in an overnight house fire where fencing the homeowner installed to pen the animals briefly trapped her in the burning home before firefighters cut her out and rescued her, the San Jose Fire Department said.
According to fire Capt. Reggie Williams, the resident, a woman in her 70s, had made her South San Jose home into a sanctuary where she served as a volunteer rescuer, caring for and neutering the animals for adoption or, failing that, eventual release.
"There were cats in every room of the house," Williams said.
The homeowner in the 6900 block of Polvadero Drive, near Bernal Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard, called 911 at 1:43 a.m. after she was awoken by the lone dog that lived with her and seeing fire and smoke emanating from a bedroom.
"She had a smoke detector but for some reason it didn't work. The dog alerted her," Williams said.
A fire dispatcher instructed her to get out of the home, and she exited through a rear door, but to a patio she had enclosed with a metal netting intended to keep her rescue cats from escaping, essentially trapping her.
She was ordered to stay low and responding firefighters found her in a fetal position with smoke and fire wafting above her. Crews used axes to cut through the fencing and pulled her to safety.
"The dispatchers kept her calm, told her to stay low and told us where she was. We went directly to her," Williams said.
It took about an hour for firefighters to put out the flames. Afterward, they removed the bodies of nearly 100 cats, most of whom Williams said died from smoke inhalation rather than direct contact with the fire.
Neither the resident nor any of the two-dozen fire personnel were injured. Her dog also escaped safely.
A half dozen cats that survived the fire were handed over to the custody of the city's animal services department.
Williams said a cause of the fire is under investigation, but that it does not appear suspicious.
Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.
Copyright 2013 - San Jose Mercury News
