The Building on Fire
On the morning of March 29, 1996, a fire started in an abandoned building in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Firefighters arrived and began working the blaze. In the middle of it, one of them noticed something strange: a cat running into the burning building.
Then she came back out. She was carrying a kitten in her mouth.
Five Trips
She went back in. She came back out with another kitten. Then again. Then again. The fire was still burning each time she entered. By her third trip, her eyes were blistered shut from the heat. Her face and paws were badly burned. Her fur was singed.
She made five trips. One kitten per trip. She set each one down on the ground a safe distance from the building. Then, unable to see, she found each of them the only way she could. She touched her nose to each kitten's nose, one at a time, until she had counted all five.
What the Firefighters Did
The firefighters who witnessed this brought her and her kittens to a local veterinarian. Her injuries were severe: blistered corneas, burned paws, singed fur across her face and body. The vet stabilized her and treated the kittens, all of whom had escaped without serious injury.
Her name at this point was simply: the cat. The press would name her Scarlett later, after the color of her burns.
North Shore Animal League
Scarlett was transferred to North Shore Animal League on Long Island to recover. It took two months. Her eyes healed enough for partial vision. Her paws healed. She was thin and needed slow, careful feeding.
During those two months, North Shore Animal League received over 7,000 letters and phone calls from people asking to adopt her. Seven thousand. From across the country and from other countries. People sent drawings. They sent donations. They told their own stories. Scarlett had touched something that was hard to name but easy to recognize.
Karen Wellen
North Shore Animal League reviewed every inquiry carefully. They were looking for someone who understood that Scarlett was not a symbol. She was a cat who had been through something hard and needed a quiet life.
They chose a woman named Karen Wellen, who had recently recovered from a serious illness herself. Scarlett went home with her in the summer of 1996. She lived with Karen in a calm apartment, and she lived there for twelve years.
What She Did and What It Means
Scarlett died in October 2008. She was approximately 14 years old. The story had never fully left the news in the years between. It was the kind of story people returned to: not because it was complicated, but because it was not.
She was a stray with no home and no one looking after her. She had five kittens in an abandoned building. The building caught fire. She went back in, five times, until she had every one of them. Then she stood there, blind, and counted them by touch to make sure.
Field Notes
- The fire occurred on March 29, 1996, in an abandoned building in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
- Scarlett made five separate trips into the burning building, retrieving one kitten at a time while the fire was still active.
- By her final trip, the heat had blistered her corneas shut. She located each kitten after the rescue by touching noses with them one at a time.
- North Shore Animal League on Long Island received over 7,000 adoption inquiries for Scarlett specifically during her two-month recovery.
- Scarlett was adopted by Karen Wellen and lived until October 2008, reaching approximately 14 years of age.
Support North Shore Animal League
North Shore Animal League America is the world's largest no-kill rescue and adoption organization. They have saved over one million animals and continue to rescue, nurture, and adopt pets to loving homes across the country.
Support North Shore Animal League
