Cat, operator help woman survive house fire

A 9-minute 9-1-1 tape reveals nerve-racking wait for rescue

By Mara Stine

The Gresham Outlook, Jul 17, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Contributed photo

Cheba

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For nine agonizing minutes, Gresham resident Barbara Belgrave struggled to breathe while trapped on the second story of her burning house until Gresham firefighters rescued her early Sunday, July 15.

“I didn’t think I was gonna make it, to be totally honest,” said Barbara, 51, over a cellular phone the day after flames destroyed her house and nearly killed her.

Barbara was sound asleep in her upstairs bedroom in the 1300 block of Southwest Walters Drive when her 12-pound cat, Cheba, pounced on her at 4:39 a.m.

Cheba has a bad habit of jumping on the bed and startling Barbara in the middle of the night, so she installed a baby gate in her bedroom door to prevent such rude awakenings.

But early Sunday, Barbara woke to the thud of Cheba jumping on her.

“She knew something was wrong,” Barbara said. “I really think that God worked through her.”

Thick smoke had filled the bedroom. Barbara closed the bedroom door and went to let some fresh air in through a window.

“In front of the house everything was lit up, just glowing,” she said. “I knew the house was on fire.”

She opened the window, but more smoke billowed in, so she slammed it shut. With her husband, Scott, away at work, Barbara weighed her options.

The woman has an imploded vertebra due to a car accident and uses a cane to get around.

“So I knew that if I jumped out the window, I’d break my back again for sure,” she said.

Grabbing the phone, she tried to call 9-1-1, but the line was dead.

Luckily, Barbara’s purse, containing her cellular phone, was in the bedroom.

What took place next is captured on a chilling, heart-stopping 9-1-1 tape.

Coughing, Barbara told the dispatcher that her house was on fire.

“It’s coming up through the floor,” Barbara said, referring to smoke floating up the air vents. “… I’m having trouble breathing. Everything’s getting black.”

Calmly, the dispatcher told Barbara to shove blankets under the bedroom door.

“I know that you’re trapped, you cannot get out of the window?” the dispatcher asked.

“I have a broken back,” Barbara explained.

The dispatcher told her to lay on the floor.

“Please hurry,” Barbara pleaded. “I can’t hardly breathe.”

She heard glass popping and household items breaking around her. Also, she heard her cat, which she’d trapped in the bedroom with her when she closed the bedroom door. The animal, too, struggled for breath.

The dispatcher reassured Barbara that firefighters were on the way and told her to breathe through a cloth, like a T-shirt. Barbara had already gripped her bed sheet over her mouth, hoping it would act as some sort of smoke filter.

“Oh please hurry,” Barbara moaned, panic creeping into her voice.

The lights went out and the sound of breaking glass grew closer. Barbara felt the floor radiating heat.

“I hear all kinds of things breaking, I’m so scared,” she cried.

Hot smoke seared her lungs and burned her eyes.

Barbara and the dispatcher talked about maybe moving toward the back of the house, where a police officer was standing by.

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