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‘Miracle cat’ survives 26 days stuck in fire debris

Cleanup crew spots animal’s tiny head in rubble

Sandy LaPierre holds her 1-year-old cat, Smoka, who was rescued Friday, Sept. 4, from under the rubble at the former Fitzgerald Flowers, 410 S. Main St., Franklin. The florist shop burned Aug. 10, and Smoka was missing since, LaPierre said.

Staff photo by Rick McCrabb Sandy LaPierre holds her 1-year-old cat, Smoka, who was rescued Friday, Sept. 4, from under the rubble at the former Fitzgerald Flowers, 410 S. Main St., Franklin. The florist shop burned Aug. 10, and Smoka was missing since, LaPierre said.

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By Rick McCrabb, Columnist Updated 1:06 AM Saturday, September 5, 2009

FRANKLIN — Smoka was given the perfect name, but not because of her color.

The 1-year-old cat survived a fire that destroyed a Franklin florist shop, falling two stories, thousands of gallons of water used to fight the fire, and being buried under stacks of charred wood for 26 days.

“It restores my faith in God,” Norma Witte, who works for Miamisburg’s Stark Wrecking Co., said Friday, Sept. 4.

“That cat,” said Dennie Fitzgerald, owner of Fitzgerald Flowers and Gifts, at 410 S. Main St. in Franklin, “is a miracle cat.”

On Aug. 10, Smoka was living in a second-floor apartment above Fitzgerald’s with Sandy LaPierre, who was given the cat six months ago.

When the fire started on the third floor, LaPierre and the others living in the apartments — including Fitzgerald, 68, a 1959 Franklin High School graduate — got out safely.

But Smoka was trapped.

Hours, days, weeks passed. No sign of Smoka.

“She was gone,” LaPierre said. “There was no way.”

There was a way.

On Friday morning, Stark employees Clarence Witte and Mary Bowerman, who considered taking the day off because of Monday’s holiday, were “shocked” when they spotted a cat’s head sticking through the debris they were clearing.

“She had to be dead,” said Bowerman, who found the cat and alerted Clarence.

Clarence, the crane operator, added: “There’s no way to explain how that cat survived in there. She must have had one life left.”

A few minutes later, Smoka and LaPierre, who lives in a nearby apartment, were reunited. She hopes to have Smoka examined by a veterinarian because she was dehydrated. Besides being thin, Smoka looked healthy, LaPierre said.

Smoka was her only possession — the most important, she said — recovered from the fire.

“She means the world to me,” LaPierre said, cuddling Smoka near the burned down florist.

Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

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