A 16-year-old Christchurch cat resuscitated by firefighters after a house fire has been reunited with her owner.

Tortoiseshell cat Missy was trapped in a bedroom at Colleen Beran's Northcote home on Saturday when a fire broke out in the living room.

The house was extensively damaged, but firefighters managed to rescue an unconscious Missy and resuscitate her by massaging her heart and giving her oxygen.

Beran, 70, visited Missy at the Our Vets clinic today in St Albans, where the cat was being treated for smoke inhalation.

Veterinarian staff had been feeding Missy using a syringe, but the cat started eating on her own as soon as Beran began to pat her.

Beran said she was happy the firefighters had managed to save Missy, which had lived with her at the Morrison Ave house since she was 8 weeks old.

''I'm pleased she's alive. When I saw the house I didn't expect anything to be left.''

Missy would stay at a cattery until Beran was able to get another Housing New Zealand house, while dog Lady, which managed to escape from the burning house when a neighbour opened the door, would stay with a friend.

It was believed the fire was caused by an electrical fault, Beran said.

Firefighters thought elderly owner was trapped

The Housing New Zealand property in Morrison Ave was "totally involved" when firefighters arrived about 1.30pm on Saturday.

St Albans station officer Murray Jamieson said firefighters were concerned 70-year-old Colleen Beran, who lives there, was inside, and crawled under huge flames to search the premises.

"Of course, when you don't find someone you've got to keep going back to make sure you haven't missed them."

On the second run through the house, Jamieson saw a "great big cat" hiding inside the woman's bedroom - the only room not extensively damaged by the blaze.

Missy was suffering from smoke inhalation but was revived after Jamieson took her outside and "pushed" some air and smoke out of her lungs.

He also gave the moggy a heart massage before passing her on to firefighter Tom Jack, who gave her oxygen until SPCA staff arrived.

Jamieson said the house was a "total writeoff" and Beran lost everything, except a few personal papers recovered by firefighters from her bedroom.

A smoke alarm was operating in the house, but neighbours could not work out where the sound was coming from until they saw smoke coming out of Beran's house, he said.

Beran was at her sister's house when she heard her home was on fire.

She rushed back to her home as fast as she could to find she had "lost everything".

"I only had what I stood up in."

Lady, 8, was also in the house when the fire erupted but managed to escape when a neighbour opened the door after smelling smoke and hearing smoke alarms going off inside.

Missy was "fine" following her ordeal, but had a "bit of a rattle in her chest", Beran said.

Beran said she did not have insurance, but was able to stay with a friend, and neighbours had given her some clothes.

 

- © Fairfax NZ News

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