DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A Deerfield Beach woman was airlifted to the hospital with serious burns after, witnesses said, a massive fire broke out inside her home while her cats were still inside, early Sunday morning.
According to neighbor Lu Vencl, he heard loud banging on his front door at his residence at around 4:30 a.m.
Surveillance video from Vencl’s home, located along Southwest 24th Avenue and 10th Drive, captured the panicked homeowner screaming for aid. “Please open up,” the woman is heard shouting.
“When I finally was able to ascertain who the person was, by her yelling ‘fire’ and that she can’t find her phone, I realized it was a real, legitimate, severe problem,” said Vencl.
Vencl said his neighbor, identified by friends as 67-year-old Barbara Cisco, said that her cats were still inside her home. He immediately called 911 and tried to keep her calm until rescue crews arrived.
He then went outside and recorded cellphone video of the large blaze.
7News cameras showed Broward Sheriff’s Fire Rescue crews pulling one of Cisco’s cats to safety. The feline was taken to Coral Springs Animal Hospital for treatment.
Another animal was found later in the wreckage of the home, shaking, burns visible on its face but alive.
Vencl said the homeowner was also in need of medical attention. “Last I heard, she was brought over to Broward and then airlifted to Jackson Memorial [Hospital],” he said.
Friends of the victim said she is listed in critical condition.
“I came, and I dropped her off at home,” said Ta’tyana Pete, a coworker of the homeowner. “Last thing she said was like, ‘You can always stop by’ … Her cats are her world. I mean, she talked about her cats all the time, all the time, and you know, her cats are her babies.”
Friends said the cats that were rescued remain in the hospital and two others were found dead inside the home.
Volunteers from the Humane Society were out there on Monday and found two of the homeowner’s cats. “Terry saw one on the back fence,” said volunteer Carol Ebert, “so we walked up to it, scruffed it and threw it in the trap because we didn’t have a second carrier for it. The other one, another gentleman and his wife were here, and they pulled him out from behind some rubbish on the side of the house.”
They will likely house the cats until Cisco is back on her feet. “They are terrified, being that they’re inside cats and now they’re outside, but they’ll be safe now,” said Ebert.
Several other cats remain missing, but volunteers hope to find some of them alive. “We’re doing the best we can to get them out unharmed,” said Ebert. “We hope that we can trap them and get them safe too.”
The Humane Society is asking the public to make donations to the organization in her name.
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