EMT revives cat at Bentleyville fire
BENTLEYVILLE – Muffy’s name was changed to Lucky after the pet cat was revived with oxygen at the scene of a house fire Thursday in Bentleyville, the homeowner said.
Kevin Amrhein, an advanced emergency medical technician with Bearcat Ambulance Service in Ellsworth, treated the animal outside 707 Mary St., where an undetermined number of other cats died in the blaze.
A dog owned by the resident, Nadine Conner, also was missing after the 9:40 a.m. fire that heavily damaged the small frame house, which was filled with clutter, Bentleyville fire Capt. Dante Sicchitano said.
“It made it hard for us to get in the building from the start,” Sicchitano said.
The state police fire marshal was called to investigate the fire at the house located over a steep ravine along the rural road, he said.
Conner said people routinely drop off unwanted cats in front of her house, and she can’t turn her back on them.
“I can’t let them freeze in the winter,” she said.
Sicchitano said Conner was at work when the fire was reported. Flames were shooting out of a window when firefighters arrived at the house.
Firefighters from the California, Fallowfield Township and Richeyville fire departments assisted those from Bentleyville in bringing the fire under control.