'Week of the cat' rescues in Warren

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

After Tuesday morning’s rescue of two cats from a burning townhouse apartment on Lodwick Drive Northwest, Bill Monrean, city assistant fire chief, said this must be “the week of the cat.”

Another Warren firefighter had pulled a kitten from a storm drain two days earlier.

Smoke alarms and an employee of the River Run Apartments ensured that a man living at 3052 Lodwick got out of his burning apartment safely Tuesday morning. None of the other five apartments in the building were damaged, though all of the building’s occupants were evacuated.

After River Run apartments employee Judy Young knocked and rang the door bell at the burning apartment, the male resident came to the door, Young said.

“I said, ‘You gotta get out,’ and he said, ‘What about my cats?’” Young said. She convinced him to leave.

Warren firefighters put out the 8:32 a.m. fire, which caused fire damage to the apartment’s upstairs rooms and smoke damage on the first floor. But they also located the two cats and brought them out.

One had hidden in the laundry room and was retrieved unharmed. But one found in an upstairs room was brought out to the front yard unconscious.

Firefighters Greg Woodward and Raymond Manofsky could be seen giving oxygen to the animal as The Vindicator arrived.

After several minutes, the animal awoke. Firefighters took it by car to the nearest veterinary hospital.

Later Tuesday, Monrean said the cat was still at All Creatures Family Pet Center in an animal oxygen cage and “doing pretty good.”

The cat’s owner, who did not want to give his name, said only that “I thought two of them were dead.” Firefighters said the man was asleep when the fire started. His wife had left earlier for work.

Fire Capt. Bill Gadd said the fire apparently started accidentally, though he said he didn’t know a specific cause.

The other animal rescue this week was a Sunday call to the intersection of Parkman Road and Northfield Avenue Northwest, where Lt. Ken Horm pulled a kitten from the storm drain after firefighters removed the storm cover.

Someone called the fire department after hearing the kitten. But the caller left the area before firefighters arrived. Firefighters checked all the drains until they heard the animal’s cries.

Warren firefighters thought they were going to make a human rescue during a fire call at 4:33 p.m. Monday at 346 Belvedere Ave. NE.

The fire, which caused a lot of damage, was discovered by an off-duty Warren firefighter who lives nearby and tried to get into the house, but the smoke and fire were too much.

Neighbors were certain the resident was home because the car was in the garage, but he had gone to a neighbor’s house, fire Chief Ken Nussle said.

Firefighters made several entries into the house looking for the resident before learning he was not there, Nussle said.