A Calgary woman has praised her neighbours after they broke into her house and saved her cat from a fire.
At around 9 p.m. Wednesday, fire crews battled a two alarm fire in the 100 block of Woodfield Close S.W. in the community of Woodbine.
Brenda Delauw’s house was next door to the one that became engulfed in flames.
It was a familiar feeling for Delauw — three years ago, fire destroyed both her home as well as her neighbhour’s.
“It was more terrifying last night watching the fire… than it was the first time because this time everything that matters to me is in my house,” said Delauw.
While Delauw was not home when the fire started, her cat Henry was. The heat from the flames next door started to melt the siding on Delauw’s house.
Neighbour Daryl Colpitts, who had already evacuated from his home, decided to act.
“We knew how quick the fires jumped in 2021 so we decided that we needed to act and act fast to get the cat out.”
Colpitts and two others kicked Delauw’s door down, and began the frantic search to find Henry.
“I kind of just got in there and did what I had to do and got out as quickly as I could because at the time you’re not really thinking a lot. The risk is real and you know the dangers there and you’ve got to kind of weigh the risk and I think we made the right decision and acted.”
Colpitts found Henry upstairs, and managed to get him to safety. He sustained several scratch marks on his arm from the cat during the rescue.
“Just knowing how much they cared and the fact that they didn’t even think about their own safety. They just kicked that door in and found my cat,” said Delauw
Delauw added that while Henry was shaken up from the rescue, he is doing fine.
Comments