CLAREMONT — A pair of beloved family dogs that went missing during a massive Bronx fire have been found alive and well, according to their owner.
"They’re at a neighbor’s house. Both of them are alive and OK," said Katrina Wigfall, who owns the dogs and lived on the first floor of 1342 College Ave., where the fire started. "They just hid. They hid underneath the bed, and they didn’t come out until the fire department grabbed them."
The fire broke out at 1:39 p.m. on Wednesday in Brown's building and soon spread to five more homes, injuring one civilian and five firefighters, according to the FDNY.
Wigfall and her 17-year-old daughter made it safely out of their house that afternoon but were worried that their dogs — a Maltese shih tzu named Pikachu and a teacup Yorkie named Lady—had not been so lucky.
However, firefighters went into Wigfall's home on Wednesday night and found that the two dogs had survived the blaze, she said.
The dogs will be bunking away from home for the time being, according to Wigfall.
"They’re going to stay with my neighbor for a little while until I get situated," she said. "I don’t really have anywhere to take them."
The cause of Wednesday's fire is still under investigation, according to the FDNY.
Officials from the Red Cross met with 26 people in 10 families on Wednesday who had been displaced by the fire, and so far two families have accepted their offer of emergency housing, according to the organization.
