Firefighters responded to a fire call at Stop the Overpopulation of Pets (S.T.O.P.) at 1152 Lexington Ave. The facility, listed as specializing in the rescue, spay and neutering of cats, suffered the fire on the evening of Jan. 24.
Assistant Chief Mark Sieving of the Mansfield City Fire Department said that the call came in at 6:38 p.m. The fire appears to have started in a storage shelf in the basement of the building. “We had what we call the main body of the fire under control in 10 minutes,” he said.
The department had 8 trucks on scene. Sieving said the number of trucks and personnel was higher due to extreme weather. The frigid conditions necessitated a rotation of personnel in and out of the scene.
Sieving stated that 35 cats were pulled from the building; three cats died. According to the shelter’s records, that left 8 cats unaccounted for. After a thorough search of the site, the unfound 8 cats are believed to have evacuated the building.
Dianna Nolen, who directs the facility, said that when the fire started some of the cats ran toward basement of the building. Nolen said that many of the animals come to the facility out of difficult situations, “They’ve already had a rough start in life,” she said, paused, and added, “I don’t understand it.”
The animals and shelter were aided by passersby on the cold winter evening. Lorie Tingley had just gone to the grocery store and was driving by the building and felt that she had to stop and help, “Everybody else was just driving by and I said ‘We can’t just drive by, there’s too many babies in there that need help.'”
Tingley, family members and others carried crates to nearby vehicles to aid the search for and evacuation of the animals.
