Troy firefighters rescue family's cats in condo fire

TROY, Mich. (WJBK) - Two Troy families are without a home after a fire broke out in one condo and spread to the other, but everyone is alive and safe thanks to Troy firefighters.

Suresh Nandyala said the fire first sparked behind his electric stove while his wife was making breakfast around 8 a.m. Sunday.

"Within a couple of minutes she noticed too much smoke all over the kitchen," he said.

His wife and 14 -year-old son rushed outside, along with the couple next door.

"(We're) sad, overwhelmed, but we're all fine," said resident Suraiya Essack-Varachia. "We're good."

Troy firefighters said they worked hard to contain the fire from spreading any further, now they're managing hot spots and investigating the cause. Everyone is safe and no one was injured, except one of the cats went missing.

"This is Zebo, they found him a little while ago, and Pepper is still somewhere inside, we're hoping she's hiding somewhere and is fine," Essack-Varachia said.

For more than three hours, firefighters searched through the rubble.

"(We) searched the whole upstairs, searched the main floor, went down into the basement," said Steven Short, a Troy firefighter. "They had a bunch of luggage that was piled up, the cat got up on the luggage and lodged itself back into a corner."

Pepper was soaked by the water but unharmed.

"I'm just glad the two cats are safe, everyone's safe, everyone is healthy, that's all that matters at the end of the day," Short said.