By Dakota Antelman — [email protected]
Nancy Allam was “dead bang asleep” in her Cottage Lane home when she woke to the smell of smoke, the blaring of alarms, and her cat meowing in her face.
Burning debris was falling from the attic onto her bed.
Allam escaped the fire that broke out last Thursday night but couldn’t rescue Kiki, her tiger-patterned Maine coon. Days later, she thanked first responders and the friends who supported her, and held out hope for her beloved pet — who is still missing.
“They were all there and they were all wonderful,” she said of the police, fire, and utility crews who swarmed her small neighborhood.
Calling for help
Originally from West Acton, Allam has lived on Cottage Lane for roughly 30 years. Her house dates to 1887, town records show.
As she fled the burning house last Thursday night, she found her landline phone was dead, she told The Concord Bridge. She banged on a neighbor’s door, screaming her name.
Meanwhile, flames were shooting out of Allam’s windows.
The Concord Fire Department responded to 36 Cottage Lane shortly before 11:30 p.m. on January 30. Allam and others in her close-knit neighborhood watched as crews battled the fire for two hours in frigid weather that assistant fire chief Brian Whitney said “made for a challenging situation.”
‘A rough past’
Allam said she got her cat roughly four years ago. Kiki, whom she originally called Fluffy, had lived on the street in Marlborough and took time to get comfortable in her new home.
“She had a rough past,” Allam said. “…It was quite a process gaining her trust.”
On the night of the fire, Allam left her doors open, hoping Kiki would get out. Allam later returned, broke a window as an escape hatch for Kiki, and left food and water, but she said Tuesday morning they “haven’t been touched.”
“If she was in there, she may have died of smoke inhalation,” Allam said. “If she’s out, God bless her.”
‘So kind’
When the scene quieted after the initial emergency response, Allam said she asked a firefighter if she could get closer to the house to see the damage. “He said, ‘Take my hand, I’ll take you,’” Allam said.
Through tears, she described walking around her burnt house with the firefighter. “It was just so kind,” she said.
Beyond firefighters’ emergency duties, Whitney said helping people grapple with the immediate aftermath of a fire is part of the job.
Allam said she has been staying with friends since the fire. She said she was wearing somebody else’s boots.
“I had to buy socks yesterday. … Everything’s gone,” she said. “It would be impossible to repay the kindness that has been shown to me by friends and neighbors.”
The fire’s cause wasn’t immediately clear, but state Department of Fire Services spokesperson Jake Wark on Monday said there was no evidence it was set.
Allam was still searching for her cat as of Tuesday morning. Anyone who sees Kiki is asked to call (978) 505-8865.
