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Five people were displaced and a dog needed to be resuscitated after a condominium fire broke out early Tuesday morning, September 22, 2026, on Daylily Drive in Chesapeake, Virginia, according to the Chesapeake Fire Department. Dispatch received multiple calls reporting the fire around 5:50 a.m., and Engine Company 14 arrived roughly ten minutes later to find heavy fire coming from the rear of a two-story condominium building.
Firefighters rescued an elderly resident who was unable to self-evacuate, along with one dog and two cats from the units. The dog was suffering from smoke inhalation and needed to be resuscitated on scene. Crews successfully revived the dog and reunited it with its owner.
One resident, Damian Bales, said his fiancée sensed something was wrong roughly an hour before the fire was confirmed, but it was their cats who ultimately signaled it was time to get out. “I guess the cats at the foot of the bed were noticing something, and that woke her up,” Bales said. “She goes, ‘No, there’s definitely something going on outside,’ so I got up, ran downstairs, and by the time I had got to our living room, all you could see coming from the patio was this bright orange.”
Crews deployed multiple hoselines to stop the fire and protect surrounding units while working to ensure all occupants were safely evacuated. The fire was brought under control around 6:20 a.m. Four condominiums sustained significant damage and are currently uninhabitable. The American Red Cross is assisting those displaced, and there were no injuries reported.
My thoughts: The detail that stands out here is that the cats woke the couple up before there was any visible sign of fire from inside the unit. That early warning likely bought them the time to get out before things escalated. It’s also worth noting how much was happening on scene at once: an elderly resident who couldn’t get out on his own, two cats, and a dog that needed to be resuscitated, all while crews were still working to knock the fire down. A lot had to go right in a short window, and it did.
Source: WAVY.com (Nexstar Media), with additional reporting from WTKR
