Firefighters Rescue Elderly Cat from Five-Alarm Blaze in Massachusetts
A 13-year-old cat was reunited with its owner after firefighters located it in a closet during a multi-alarm fire that displaced dozens.
Heroic firefighters in Massachusetts rescued an elderly cat from a five-alarm fire that engulfed a building in Somerville on Wednesday evening. The 13-year-old gray tabby, named Naz, was found trapped in a closet after the blaze erupted.
The fire started around 5:00 p.m. in a mixed-use building in Teele Square. Naz's owner, Warren Thanes, was at work when the fire alarms sounded and everyone evacuated the building safely, but the cat remained inside.
Thanes, returning home, saw fire trucks and smoke emanating from his building and immediately requested assistance for his pet. Firefighters battled the blaze throughout the evening.
Chelsea firefighter Alex Lozada eventually located Naz inside a dark closet. "It was tough to find. It was hidden in the closet, dark cat, dark closet and we almost left and I saw the yellow eyes pop out and I was like, ‘I found it.’" Lozada said, according to WCVB.
The cat was brought downstairs to a relieved Thanes, who called Naz "precious" to him and his partner. "It is the only thing that matters, when tragedy like this happen," Thanes told reporters.
The fire damaged four buildings, each containing eight apartments. Somerville Fire Chief Charles Breen stated that crews had to pull ceilings and open the roof to vent the fire. The Red Cross reported that 43 people were displaced by the incident. Thanes and his partner had lived in the building for 23 years.
