Firefighters found Toast Malone alive inside the fire-damaged building more than 72 hours after the blaze, according to authorities
NEED TO KNOW
- A cat named Toast Malone was found alive more than 72 hours after a fire damaged a Utah apartment building, according to the Unified Fire Authority
- Firefighters discovered Toast inside the building before reuniting him with his owners, authorities said
- The fire destroyed nearly all of the couple’s belongings as they prepared for their October wedding, according to a GoFundMe created on their behalf
A cat named Toast Malone spent more than three days trapped inside the burned remains of a Utah apartment building before firefighters found him alive and reunited him with his family, according to the Unified Fire Authority.
The rescue came more than 72 hours after a fire broke out at the North Union Apartments in Midvale on the morning of July 31, according to the Unified Fire Authority. By the time firefighters located Toast, much of the building had been destroyed.
“Against incredible odds, firefighters discovered a cat named Toast alive inside the North Union Apartments more than 72 hours after the fire began,” the fire authority wrote in a social media post.
The agency said Toast was reunited with his owner after the rescue and, aside from being “wet, cold and a little scared,” was otherwise healthy. It also thanked Salt Lake County Animal Services for assisting with the response.
Credit: Unified Fire Authority
Toast’s owners, Ryder Mathis and his girlfriend, Madi, had recently been preparing for their October wedding after getting engaged at the end of April, according to a GoFundMe created on their behalf.
To save money before the wedding, Madi had moved back in with her parents while Mathis rented the apartment where the couple planned to live after they were married, according to the fundraiser. Over the past several months, they had gradually purchased furniture, kitchen items and other household essentials for their future home.
The fundraiser said those plans changed when the fire broke out.
Without fire insurance, the couple lost nearly everything they had collected for the apartment. But their primary concern quickly became Toast, who was still inside the building, according to the GoFundMe.
Credit: Unified Fire Authority
Days later, firefighters returned to the apartment and found Toast alive inside a closet beneath one of the only sections of roof left standing after much of the building collapsed, according to the Unified Fire Authority.
The agency said the cat had survived days of smoke, hundreds of thousands of gallons of water sprayed onto the building and the destruction surrounding him.
Salt Lake County Animal Services described Toast’s rescue as “against all odds.”
“It was an emotional reunion that reminded everyone why we never stop searching,” Animal Services wrote in a social media post.
Toast was evaluated by the emergency team at VEG before being released about an hour later and returning home with his family, according to the agency.
“To Toast… welcome home. Your family never stopped hoping for this moment,” the agency wrote.
Speaking with ABC affiliate KUTV after Toast’s rescue, Mathis said he had gradually begun accepting the possibility that the cat would not survive.
“I’m kind of speechless,” Mathis said. “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.”
Credit: Unified Fire Authority
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“I can’t express my gratitude enough for animal services, especially Sergeant 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.”
While the couple now faces rebuilding after losing their belongings in the fire, Madi said getting Toast back put everything else into perspective.
“We are SO grateful he’s still alive,” she said, according to the GoFundMe. “Everything else is just stuff. We have even laughed about it… now that we have Toast back.”
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