Man, cat rescued after Cedar Rapids apartment fire

Firefighters rescued a disabled man and police saved a cat during a kitchen fire at a Cedar Rapids apartment complex this afternoon.

Ronald Bruce, 44, was trapped in his second-story apartment at Oak Hill Manor, 1311 15th St. SE, when firefighters arrived about 1:30 p.m.

There was smoke coming from the apartment directly below, so firefighters broke out an adjacent apartment's window, made their way through a hallway, and removed Bruce from his apartment.

Bruce, described by Fire Department spokesman Greg Buelow as “physically challenged,” was evaluated by paramedics at the scene but didn't require treatment, Buelow said.

“He was pretty shook up,” Buelow said.

Resident Kim Hartmann, 50, told The Gazette he was heating vegetable oil on the stove in apartment No. 105 but left the unit for about 20 minutes. He said he was drinking a bottle of wine with a friend down the hall, when he someone told him there was a fire.

Hartmann said he tried to go inside the unit to get his cat, but the heat was too intense.

Officer Ashleigh Steil pulled Hartmann's cat, Lily, out of the first-floor window.

“She (the cat) needs a bath,” Hartmann said. “I was worried about her. I thought she was a dead cat.”

Hartmann's apartment sustained significant fire, heat and smoke damage, and there was light smoke damage to the building's first and second floors.

The American Red Cross provided assistance to Hartmann, who couldn't reoccupy his apartment.