Wichita fire victim recounts harrowing night; dog fighting for life in hospital

Jun. 18—A second pet has died and a third is fighting for its life in an animal hospital after a Wichita apartment fire.

Chloe Wade, 22, said Thursday that her family lost a second cat from the Tuesday morning fire. Sox died Wednesday night.

"It makes us feel better to know that she is not in so much pain," she said. "She was really fighting it."

Ramona, a 1-year-old brindle mix dog, is still recovering in the El Paso Animal Hospital. Ramona has burns to her face and side as well as smoke inhalation injuries, she said.

Wade and her boyfriend, Blayten Pullis, 21, were both taken to a hospital after the fire at their apartment in the 400 block of South Hydraulic. Both have since been released.

Most of their belongings have been destroyed. They don't know what caused the fire.

"It's been rough," she said. "It's been a roller coaster."

The fire started after 2 a.m., and then Wade was awoken by her boyfriend.

"He told me that there was a fire, the couch was on fire," she said. "I wasn't quite awake yet, but I did smell smoke so I got up and ran into the living room."

The couch was on fire and Pullis was trying to put it out with water.

"I think that honestly we both just went into full panic mode," she said.

She ran and opened two doors to her apartment so firefighters knew where to go and their two dogs and three cats had a way to escape. It didn't look bad when she left to open the doors, but it had progressed quickly by the time she went back inside.

Wade's father is a firefighter. So is her uncle, who responded to the call. She knows, in hindsight, she shouldn't have opened the doors, which fueled the fire with oxygen.

"The smoke had already become a lot thicker and a lot lower, so I was running through with my shirt over my face," she said. "That's when my boyfriend just started yelling to call 911."

She ran to the bedroom, calling for her dogs on the way, and got her phone.

"It's pitch black ... you're choking when you are walking around," she said. "It's getting increasingly more hot."

She closed herself in the bathroom and contemplated jumping out of the window.

"At that point, I was kind of choking and I couldn't see anything and I couldn't breathe," she said. "So I opened the window as I have 911 on the phone."

She stuck her head out the window to breathe. She could hear sirens. Wade said her boyfriend broke a window and jumped out of the second-floor apartment.

"He had came around to the window where I was at, found me," she said. "I was able to tell him to get the firefighters to come around to where I was at."

Firefighters moved a ladder into position.

Champ, a German Shepard mix, followed her into the bathroom. The smoke was so thick she didn't know if Ramona was in the bathroom as well.

"(Champ is) pretty clingy to me in general," she said. "When I was able to get to the window that I was at when the firefighters found me, he was at my feet."

She climbed into the ladder and was guided to safety. The blinds in the bathroom window had melted and firefighters were surprised she wasn't burned, she said.

"I think that I just kept repeating to get my animals out because I had heard my cats crying in the back," she said. "I knew that my dog was there and I knew that he wasn't really moving anymore below me."

Firefighters revived Champ. He is on antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory but expected to be OK.

Wade and her boyfriend were covered in soot, she said.

"My boyfriend was black head to toe," she said.

Her heart was racing.

"I think that I was just in utter panic," she said. "I wanted to know about my animals and I wanted them to know that they were in there and where they were. I think I was just in shock. Me and my boyfriend were both just standing there looking up at smoke pouring out of our apartments."

Firefighters put out the flames as Wade and Pullis were taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Firefighters found their rescue cat, Jett, dead inside the apartment. Their third cat, Blaze, ran away during the fire, but a neighbors may has possibly spotted the cat, she said. Blaze could be injured as well.

Most of their belongings have been destroyed. The Wichita Fire Department estimated damage of $80,000 to the structure and $20,000 to its contents.

"Very thankful to not have sustained any injuries, any physical injuries," she said. "It was a really terrifying experience."

For now, they are staying with family.

A GoFundMe to help replace their belongings raised more than $4,900 of a $10,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon.

Wade has renter's insurance but said she doesn't yet know how much damage will be covered. She estimates they lost $20,000 in belongings.

Their vet bill is also yet to be determined.

A GoFundMe to help their pets has more than $3,900 of the $8,500 goal. Wade said the first animal hospital Ramona was taken to encouraged them to put her down. She said they moved her to El Paso Animal Hospital where they've said "promising things."

"She's just resting up," she said. "They're trying to get her oxygen up and of course keep her out of pain ... she is peppy when they get her up and around."

Wade said her coworkers at Wesley Medical Center are also helping to raise funds to help them.

"We've been overwhelmed so far with support," she said. "It's going to help us so much. It will be able to get us back on our feet and start replacing some of the things that we can and definitely take care of our dog and also take care of putting to rest the two cats that we lost."

They plan to have their pet cats cremated.

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