ANDERSON — A cat believed to be lost in Sunday’s fire at the Hoosier Woods apartment complex was reunited with its family Monday.
Shalley, a black Persian, was left inside the first-floor apartment of the burning building when a fire broke out at 3905 Winner’s Circle shortly after 5 p.m.
On Monday, the cat’s owner, Shanna Sears, asked firefighters to search the apartment for the lost pet.
Minutes later, Sears said, a firefighter emerged from the building holding the seemingly lifeless black cat in his arms.
“She was laying flat in his hands and he was holding her out with his two hands. She looked dead,” Sears said.
To Sears’ surprise, Shalley was completely unharmed. “She’s not even wheezing.”
Sears was forced to leave Shalley behind when the cat escaped her grasp as firefighters pulled the family from the burning building.
Sears said she captured Shalley and headed for the door but the frantic animal leapt from her arms. When the cat got away from Sears’ fiancé, Keith Scott, seconds later, the family was forced to leave the animal behind.
For the next hour, the family watched firefighters douse the burning building with water, knowing that the pet was trapped inside.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Sears believes Shalley found safety under fire tarps laid out over the apartment by firefighters battling the blaze.
Despite losing her home to the fire, Sears said she and her family are blessed. “We felt like our cup was half-full knowing we all got out but as soon as she got out, our cup was full.”
Anderson firefighters were also able to recover a wooden box containing the cremated remains of Sears’ parents.
Sears said the family is happy to be safe, but the fire has had lasting effects on her children.
Sears’ daughters, 5-year-old Jerynn and 10-year-old Azslynn, have been experiencing nightmares in the wake of the blaze. “The girls are very jumpy. Every time they hear a boom. The steps to these apartments are wood and steel beams so every time someone runs downstairs, they think someone is banging on the doors to tell them the building’s on fire.”
Sears said the family, including Shalley, three other cats, and Spears’ children, are all staying in a two-bedroom apartment until permanent housing can be found.
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John P. Cleary
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7:42 p.m. UPDATE: Cat found after Hoosier Woods fire
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