Hero Cat FOUND: Feline Credited For Saving Pregnant Woman From Fire
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UPDATE: The cat credited for saving a Wonder Lake couple has been found, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Joshua Ornberg and his girlfriend Letitia Kovalovsky -- seven months pregnant with twins -- slept soundly in their new home near northwest suburban Wonder Lake on Sunday night, not knowing their house was on fire.
Their lives were saved, they say, by their 13-year-old tabby cat, Baby. Ordinarily a docile cat who spends most of her time beneath the bath tub, Baby jumped on the couple repeatedly, until Ornberg woke up and noticed an orange glow coming from the living room. After trying and failing to put the fire out with an extinguisher, Ornberg took Kovalovsky, Baby, and their pet dog out of the house and called the fire department.
According to the Sun-Times report, the cause of the fire is thought to be a lava lamp in the couple's bedroom. They were sleeping on the couch at the time of the fire.
But Baby didn't stick around to win any medals. In fact, she's gone missing.
The couple has set a live trap, and expects to find her before long. "We set up a kind of live trap and put some tuna underneath the porch and are hoping that she knows to come back," Kovalovsky told the Sun-Times.
The fire wasn't without consequence. The couple's new home, which they bought just weeks ago after renting for four years, was destroyed. From the Chicago Breaking News story:
An insurance adjuster estimates about $115,000 indamage was done, and the couple lost about $60,000 worth of personal property, Ornberg said.Among belongings destroyed in the fire were numerous baby items stored in a back room, [Wonder Lake Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Mike] Weber and Ornberg said.
"We'd bought the cribs, clothes, the changing table," Ornberg said."This weekend, I was going to buy one of those Disney ceiling fans. Now there's nothing left."
The Wonder Lake Firefighters Association is soliciting funds to help Ornberg and Kovalovsky buy new baby items, Weber said.
But if it weren't for Baby, things could have turned out much worse. As Weber told the Sun-Times, "They were lucky."
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First Posted: 03/20/10 06:12 AM ET Updated: 05/25/11 04:15 PM ET