A White Rock resident thought she lost everything she owned in a fire, but her missing cat returned to the scene two days later.
Sandra Dick woke up on Sunday to the smell of burning plastic. She went out onto the patio of her ground-floor suite and saw that her building was on fire.
A construction site at Pacific Avenue and Johnston Road was on fire, and the flames had spread to her condo building.
As Dick searched for the cause of the smell, her cat "Cabo" ran outside. Dick knew she had to leave, but couldn't find the feline.
"I didn't want to go, just in case she was walking around looking for us or something, but we had to go," Dick told CTV News on Thursday.
The fire tore through the building, and more than 100 people lost their homes to the blaze. Fortunately only two people were injured, and their injuries were considered minor.
She spent two days searching and putting up posters, hoping someone would find the cat or had taken her in. Crews at the fire scene also kept an eye out for Cabo, just in case.
Then on Tuesday, a rookie firefighter uncovered the cat hiding in the master bedroom, between the bed and dresser.
"It was just curled up there in a little ball, looked very scared," firefighter Matt Meneghin told CTV. Meneghin joined the fire department just three months ago, and the massive White Rock blaze was his first big call out.
"It felt great. I have a cat of my own, and a dog. I love animals," Meneghin said of the discovery.
Reunited, Cabo's owner said she thought the cat went back to the rubble, looking for her family.
"I wish she could talk and tell us where she'd been," Dick said.
For now, Dick is staying with friends and family. She has insurance, but lost everything she owned.
"But I got my cat, and we're alive. That's huge, right?" she said.
"We didn't think it would be this bad, but we're all here."
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim
