RIO GRANDE – Paul Thompson will never forget Mother’s Day, May 11, 2014.
He returned from church to his Indian Trail Road home filled with thick, black smoke. Thompson dialed 911. He could no longer stand the smoke, and left the dwelling.
Within minutes, volunteers from Rio Grande Fire Company responded. They were able to do something he could not: find and rescue his cat.
Through quick action of those firefighters, once outside, the cat was doused with bottled water and oxygen administered. His pet was saved.
“If they had arrived five minutes later, the cat would have been history,” he wrote in a letter to the editor in today’s edition.
So grateful was Thompson to the volunteers for saving his cat’s life, he presented a token of appreciation Aug. 1 to Chief Richard Sweeten and Assistant Chief Jim Belles. The gift was a vintage fire ax mounted on a plaque that his deceased father painted.
The officers told Thompson it will be placed in a special location in the Rio Grande fire house.
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