DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. – A cat was found alive and the urn holding the remains of the homeowner's husband was discovered Monday, a day after a Deerfield Beach home burned down.
Neighbors told Local 10 News that Barbara Cisco's life has been about rescuing and saving cats ever since her husband died of cancer 10 years ago.
Cisco's black and white cat found Monday is the fourth of nine cats to be accounted for after the home where they lived burned down early Sunday morning.
Cisco's friends said they found him on the side of the home. He was burned and bleeding, but breathing.
Home surveillance video shows 66-year-old Cisco running next door for help after her home caught fire.
Seen here begging her neighbor for help.
"Please open up!" Cisco can be heard crying out in the video as she begs her neighbor for help. "It's a fire!"
"She was in shock," Cisco's neighbor, Lu Vencl, said. "She was all full of black soot, her hair was on fire, she had some burns."
Vencl said Cisco went back inside her burning home because some of her cats were trapped inside.
"She apparently went back inside of the house to try to save the animals, and unfortunately, that's not really the right choice," Vencl said. "They're like her kids. I get that, but it's landed her in the hospital."
Authorities said Cisco's injuries turned more severe and she was taken to a hospital.
Firefighters were able to save one cat and gave it oxygen and a warm blanket.
Friends of Cisco's from the Florida Humane Society, where she dedicates much of her time to helping animals, are now helping to get her destroyed home boarded up while she is treated in the hospital.
"They are terrified, being that they are inside cats and now they're outside. But they'll be safe now," Florida Humane Society President Carol Ebert said.
Cisco was first listed in critical condition upon her arrival at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center burn unit in Miami, but she is now stable.
Two of her cats were found dead inside the home.
According to authorities, the fire started in a front room, but the cause is still under investigation.