Donald VanWormer’s cat, Fred, woke him up in the middle of the night to escape the fire in Tillamook
Credit: KPTV FOX 12/YouTube
NEED TO KNOW
- Oregon resident Donald VanWormer was saved from a house fire after his cat, Fred, woke him up in the middle of the night
- “I made it to the living room just as the ceiling started caving in. I was stumbling but finally got out the door,” he recalled
- He tried to escape with Fred, but the cat died in the blaze
An Oregon man survived a house fire thanks to his heroic cat.
Donald VanWormer, 56, was sleeping when a blaze erupted at his home in Tillamook on Feb. 21. He was soon awoken by his cat, Fred, amid the terrifying fire, according to the New York Post.
"Fred jumped on my face and started hitting me with his paws,” VanWormer explained. “He was going crazy. He woke me up, then I smelled the smoke and realized what was happening.”
Credit: GoFundMe
VanWormer tried to escape the room with Fred in his arms, per the Post, but a dresser and a cloud of smoke blocked his exit.
“I made it to the living room just as the ceiling started caving in. I was stumbling but finally got out the door," he told the outlet.
After making it outside of the house, he soon realized that Fred was not with him anymore. He fell attempting to go back inside and hit his head.
“When I came to, I tried to get back inside to find him, but the firefighters stopped me,” VanWormer told the Post. “I was begging them to help me find him.”
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The cat's body was found inside the doorway after firefighters extinguished the blaze, according to the outlet.
“He almost made it out,” he said. "Fred died saving me."
Fred was a 9-week-old kitten, according to Fox 10 News.
VanWormer, who was home alone with Fred, suffered minor burns. His 9-year-old daughter, Iree, and his 56-year-old girlfriend, Lisa, weren't home at the time.
He launched a GoFundMe to raise funds to rebuild his home after the fire. “I can rebuild my home and replace things, but I can never get Fred back," he said, per the Post.
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