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Woman Runs into Burning Home to Save Cat Named Slick, Officials Say

By  Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | May 11, 2015 12:02pm 

 A woman ran into her burning home to rescue her cat, Slick, 3, she said.
Cats Rescued from Bronx Blaze
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THE BRONX — A woman ran back into her burning Fordham home Monday to rescue one of her cats from a fire that scorched two buildings, she and officials said.

Rozelle Caban, 54, was inside her home at 2683 Briggs Ave., near East 196th Street, about 11:35 a.m., when the fire broke out next door at 2685 Briggs Ave. and quickly spread to her building, according to her and the FDNY.

"Someone was banging on my door and window saying, 'Fire! Fire!' I ran out without shoes on. Then I ran back inside to get my two cats, but I could only get one," a 3-year-old female named Slick, Caban said.

"When I went back in, the fire was licking the windows of my living room. It was a big column, a lot of fire, bright orange." She said she was inside for about two minutes.

Firefighters arrived shortly after.

"They had to break my roof and knocked all the windows out. Firefighters were telling everyone to get out," Caban said.

About 138 firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control minutes after 1 p.m., a spokesman said. Fire marshals were trying to figure out what sparked it.

It was not immediately clear what happened to Caban's other cat, a 1-year-old named Mercy. But officials told her that all animals were accounted for, she said.

Two other cats, two turtles and a pet rat, all belonging to a neighbor of Caban's, were rescued from the fire, a Red Cross official said.

No injuries were immediately reported, officials said.

The New York Red Cross was sending crews to help anyone displaced in the fire, officials said.