Staunton woman, 15 cats, saved from fire. Now the animals need homes.
STAUNTON — On Sunday around 7 p.m., 25-year-old Aaron Waddy was sitting with his daughter's mother on the back deck of his mom's house at the corner of West Johnson and Sudbury streets when they noticed smoke coming from nearby.
Waddy said it was white smoke and figured somebody was grilling. But when he was told to take a second glance, he noticed that the smoke, coming from about a block away on Sudbury Street, was black.
"I just took off running," Waddy said.
When he got to the house at 815 Sudbury Street, Waddy said flames about six feet high were shooting from the home. He began banging on a screen door but nobody answered. Waddy hurriedly let himself in.
"I didn't even think about it, honestly," Waddy said. "In my head, it's a life. Somebody's got to get saved. I lived on this road (West Johnson Street) all my life, so I knew there was an older woman there."
Waddy was right. Inside the home — he thinks it was the kitchen — he found 81-year-old Lana Stokes, who was unaware her home was ablaze. "It wasn't in the house yet," Waddy said of the fire. "She couldn't smell it or anything."
Two other unknown men followed behind Waddy into the home, and one them asked Stokes how many cats were there. When she told them 15, Waddy said, "At that point, we all just looked at each other and said, 'ma'am, we have to get you out of here.'"
Stokes was taken across the street and firefighters soon arrived.
"He ran in and saved her life," said Tina Witherow, Stokes' daughter. "He made her get out, and she, of course, was trying to save cats."
"It was a spur of the moment thing," Waddy said of the rescue. "It was crazy."
The fire heavily damaged the residence and left Stokes displaced. She's now trying to find homes for nearly a dozen cats that made it out of the fire, although one had to be put down.
A pet bird, a 30-year-old macaw, also died from smoke inhalation.
Staunton Fire & Rescue Deputy Fire Chief Perry Weller said firefighters were met with flames and smoke, and said the home sustained heavy damage. A house next door also saw some of its siding melted from the extreme heat. A cause is still being probed, according to Weller.
Once firefighters arrived, they began plucking cats from the home, said Witherow, who noted the animals had scurried to the other side of the house away from the flames. "They all made it out alive," she said.
But a 22-year-old blind cat suffering from smoke inhalation was later euthanized. "He couldn't get away like the others did," Witherow said.
A macaw named "Alec" also succumbed to the smoke and died during the fire. "It was a beautiful blue and gold macaw," Witherow said. "She took such good care of Alec." Following the fire, Witherow went inside the home and found one of the bird's favorite foods, a watermelon, on the floor. She said the fire had burned around the intact fruit.
Witherow described her mother as an animal lover who took in abused and neglected cats over the years, and said she's been fostering pets all her life. "She even had a hawk at one point," Witherow said.
Witherow said her mother, a long-time employee at the Valley Mission in Staunton and The Purple Foot restaurant in Waynesboro, acquired the pets through people approaching her.
"Mom never went out and sought to get an animal," she said. "That's the way she always ended up with animals."
At the time of the fire, Stokes had 15 cats in the home and an outdoor cat, which remains in the neighborhood but has so far evaded capture. Witherow said two surviving cats have already found homes, and noted her mother will keep one feline once she gets settled in a new residence. That leaves 11 cats the family is desperately trying to find homes for.
Witherow said she contacted a number of animal shelters in the area to take the cats, only to be turned away. "We even called as far as Arlington. We called everywhere yesterday and nobody will take them," she said. "It's been incredibly frustrating."
The majority of the rescued cats are being temporarily sheltered by a relative.
Those wishing to help Stokes can visit a GoFundMe page that was recently established. If anyone is willing to consider adopting a cat, they can contact Witherow at (540) 255-5323.
"That's been one of the big things, is trying to re-home these animals," she said.
Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on X (formerly Twitter).
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Staunton woman, 15 cats, saved from fire. Now the animals need homes.
