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Posted by W von Papineäu on January 27, 2003 at 10:42:12:
WOONSOCKET CALL (Rhode Island) 27 January 03 Fire guts triple-decker (Joseph B. Nadeau) {Excerpts}
Woonsocket: As she stood in the cold with soot on her face Sunday afternoon, Billie Kiesel, 38, knew her family had lost just about everything in the fire consuming her apartment nearby at 410 Wood Ave.
Her daughter, Hillary, 12, and son, Trenton, 15, were safe, as were her roommate, Desiree Doyon, 35, and 12 other people living in the three-decker, wood frame tenement house.
But Kiesel also knew some of her family’s pets remained inside and had a bad feeling about that.
…
Firefighter Mark Desrosiers, however, brought a smile to Kiesel’s face as he walked out of the burning building carrying the family’s squirming four-foot-long iguana in outstretched arms.
"He was in a cage near the bedroom. I can’t believe he’s still alive," Kiesel said.
Desrosiers, wearing a mask and breathing equipment, would also find a caged parrot in the second-floor apartment while the fire burned and brought it out to its owner, Robert Hayes, 39.
The iguana survived on the first floor because it was kept in an aquarium, Desrosiers said later. The firefighter, who had owned a smaller iguana himself as a youngster, said he had heard the pet was in the apartment and checked around for it.
"I looked in the tank and good thing I had gloves on," the fireman said of his attempt to pick up the frightened reptile. The iguana struggled bit but Desrosiers got it under control. "It was just scared I guess."
Outside, the pet took command of the back seat of a police cruiser as Desiree Doyon, barefoot and coatless, sat next to it watching the fire through vehicle’s open rear door.
"The space heater started it, I think," Doyon said as the sound of breaking windows came from across the street. The family had been using space heaters in the apartment after running out of money to buy oil to heat, Doyon and Kiesel said.
…
After calling 911 for help, Doyon and Kiesel looked for their pets but were forced out as thick black smoke began to fill the building.
…
