A Kensington resident still grieving her dog’s recent death narrowly avoided losing her 24-year-old cat when her home went up in flames on Monday morning.
The woman lost her abode of 40 years in the inferno and her dog Kavita earlier this year to natural causes, and said it was a relief to see a fireman carrying her cat Luisa out of the burning building.
“I couldn’t imagine losing her, having lost my dog in February,” said Isabel Lam, who has lived on Kermit Place and E. Eighth Street since the 1970s.
Lam says she ran outside after awaking to smoke engulfing her two-story home at 7:40 am — she thought Luisa was outside in the backyard doing her usual morning patrol, but couldn’t find her anywhere.
A firefighter went to look for her and ran outside minutes later with a shaken-up and wet cat cradled in his arms, and New York’s Bravest spent then next 40 subduing the smoke as Lam and Luisa looked on with neighbors.
Lam had lit a candle in Kavita’s memory on the night prior to the inferno, but doesn’t think it was the cause of the blaze.
Fire Department officials say they’re still investigating.
Lam says she first adopted Luisa in 1993, when the cat walked into her Red Hook office. She once survived a trip to Paris with Lam’s French husband, but has never dealt with anything as traumatic as being trapped inside a burning building, Lam said.
“She’s never been through anything disastrous like this,” she said.
Neighbors offered to take the pair in, but Lam said her insurance company is putting them up in a hotel for the time being.
