LYNN — A Lynn couple is fostering a cat rescued from the devastating four-alarm fire at a Broad Street apartment building earlier this month, while its owner gets back on her feet.
Michael Biasetti Jr., 32, and his fiancée, Crystal Falta, 34, have taken in Christopher, a 1-year-old black and white cat, while its owner tries to find permanent housing.
Michelle Dupont, 47, lived on the second floor of the 18-unit apartment building at 26 Broad St., which has since been demolished after a fire ripped through it on Jan. 8. She lost everything in the fire, including her other 2-year-old cat, Kayla, the mother of Christopher.
“I’m lucky I got out with the clothes on my back and my life,” Dupont said. “When I get a permanent home again, my intention is to keep Christopher, of course, and I’m hopeful I’m going to find Kayla. Even though she wasn’t rescued from the building, Mike and other people told me, there’s maybe a 50 percent chance a stranger found her and she’s being held somewhere.”
Dupont plans to stay in a hotel during her apartment search. She said Christopher was rescued from her former apartment by a firefighter. She was at the shelter set up at the Lynn Police Station that night and was notified that a black and white cat had been rescued from the building — she thought it was Kayla at first, but then learned it was Christopher.
Biasetti said he heard Red Cross was setting up at the police station, so the couple put a bag of clothes and socks together and drove down. He brought his card, telling emergency responders that he rescues reptiles and breeds boa constrictors, and asked if there were any animals from the fire in need.
Later that night, he said he got a call that there was a male cat severely in need of food and a pet carrier — the cat had suffered from smoke inhalation and was very wet. He said he stopped at the CVS on Boston Street, bought some toys to cheer the cat up, and went down to the station, where he met Dupont.
Biasetti said he and Crystal sat with Dupont for a few hours, and found that the cat, aside from being scared, wet, cold and suffering from smoke inhalation, was in generally good spirits and good condition. He said an animal control officer took the cat to North Shore Animal Hospital. From there, he said he kept in touch with Dupont, who was very worried about a foster home for Christopher.
“I said, we don’t have the biggest place, but we will foster him for as long as need be,” Biasetti said.
Biasetti said the plan is to move the cat to his mother’s house on Marianna Street, where Christopher would have the whole house, unencumbered by other cats and dogs — Biasetti has two dogs, a cat, two rabbits, and 20 reptiles in his apartment. He said Christopher would also cheer his mother up, as her 18-year-old cat recently died.
In addition to providing a home for Christopher, Biasetti and Falta have set up a gofundme page, “Christopher’s Love,” to help Dupont pay for the $623 vet bill from North Shore Animal Hospital. The cat was in the animal hospital for a week.
“We would want someone to help us if something like that happened to us,” Falta said.
Dupont said she’s more than grateful for what Biasetti and Falta are doing for Christopher. She hasn’t given up hope that Kayla is still out there somewhere.
“I’m blessed that Christopher was rescued and he’s got a great foster home and the North Shore Animal Hospital treated him so well. They took really good care of him,” Dupont said. “It’s just hard that I had no closure with Kayla. I can’t go dig through the rubble there obviously. The building’s been demolished.
“It’s tough, but I don’t let myself get real sad because I’ve also got to focus on getting a home so there’s no time to really grieve right now. It’s just, get up every morning, put my boots on and fight the battle and find a home, and the whole nine yards. I think about her every day, every night,” she said.
