Firefighters saved a cat from a fire at a home in the 6500 block of Covington Oaks Drive in Cedar Hill on Monday (Dec. 20), Cedar Hill Fire Protection District Assistant Chief David Jones said.
Eureka firefighters pulled the cat from the house and then High Ridge Fire Engineer Matt Sleet gave the cat oxygen using Cedar Hill Fire Protection District equipment, Jones said.
The firefighters who found the cat were Brian Kopp, Matt Wilson and Sean Robinson, Eureka Fire public information officer Scott Barthelmass said.
Jones said no one was in the home when the fire started on the back deck of the house, and a neighbor called 911.
Crews were dispatched at 1:35 p.m., and a brush truck was the first one on the scene, arriving at 1:37 p.m., Jones said.
He said the cause of the fire was electrical.
Jones said the cat was lethargic, so it was given oxygen, and after a few minutes, the cat seemed better. Then, the residents arrived on the scene and took the cat to a local veterinarian.
“The cat had a clean bill of health,” Jones said.
Sleet, 37, of Fenton said it was the second cat he had saved in his 15 years as a firefighter.
“It was pretty rewarding to see the change in the cat,” he said.
Jones said the residents had two other pets inside the house that survived the fire – squirrel gliders – and after the fire was out, firefighters accompanied a resident into the house to get them from a cage.
The fire was under control by 2:07 p.m., and crews stayed on the scene until 3:44 p.m.
Jones said the fire burned a hole in the roof, so it’s uninhabitable until it can be repaired.
The family is staying with other family members in the area, he added.
The Big River Ambulance District also responded to the scene.