MIDVALE, Utah — A resilient and resourceful cat may have used up one of its nine lives, but the feline is safe after surviving several days in a Utah apartment complex gutted by fire.
Ryder Mathis, of Midvale, was reunited with his cat, named Toast, after firefighters found the animal hiding inside a closet at the North Union apartment complex, KTVX reported.
The fire broke out during the early morning hours of July 31, and Mathis said he woke up after hearing smoke alarms.
“I started seeing people kind of lining up outside, and I thought, ‘this has got to be something’, because I could smell smoke,” he told the television station.
Mathis said his first instinct was to retrieve Toast, who was hiding under a couch, KTVX reported.
“I had to move it out of the way, and he darted from there right to my washing machine,” he told the television station. “Right after that, I got a text from my fiancée, Madison, and it said, ‘The fourth floor is on fire, you need to leave right now.’
“I had to grit my teeth and put on shoes and leave and hope it didn’t get as bad as this, but it did. That whole day was very long.”
Miraculously, firefighters sifting through the ashes and debris found Toast hiding inside a closet of a nearly destroyed apartment, KSTU reported.
“How many lives do cats have again?!” the Unified Fire Authority wrote in a Facebook post. “Against incredible odds, firefighters discovered a cat named Toast yes, that’s really its name!) alive inside the North Union Apartments more than 72 hours after the fire began.”
Mathis said he was amazed that Toast survived the blaze and the smoke from its aftermath.
“I’m kind of speechless. I was trying to convince myself and Madison for so long that we were kind of torturing ourselves by thinking that he might still be out there,” Mathis told KTVX. “I was telling Madison, ‘Oh, the smoke probably got to him. He just fell asleep.’”
“Hidden inside a closet -- one of the only spaces left standing in the apartment after the roof collapsed -- the resilient cat survived days of smoke, hundreds of thousands of gallons of water being sprayed overhead, and the destruction all around,” the Unified Fire Authority wrote.
Fire officials said that Toast was in relatively good health, although it was wet, cold and “a little scared,” KSTU reported.
Salt Lake County Animal Services said Toast’s rescue was “against all odds.”
“It was an emotional reunion that reminded everyone why we never stop searching,” Animal Services wrote in a social media post.
Mathis said he was relieved -- and grateful, KTVX reported.
“I can’t express my gratitude enough for animal services, especially Sgt. Cantor, with Salt Lake County Animal Services,” he said. “She went to war for us to make sure someone went up there just to check. I am so grateful for her, and also, Unified Fire Authority, for their work.”
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