Residents Are Concerned for Pets Left Behind

• June 30, 2021, 7:18 a.m. ET

Above the rubble in Surfside, Fla., on the still-standing fourth-floor balcony of the collapsed condo building, firefighters this week left food and water for a cat named Coco.

A Miami city commissioner, Ken Russell, had initiated the search for pets left in the building when he heard from someone who is friends with Coco’s owners, who safely evacuated on Thursday morning.

When Coco’s owners, an 89-year-old woman and her daughter, were led out of the building by firefighters, their dog, Rigatoni, followed. But Coco remained inside the apartment.

“Clearly the priority is loss of human life and rescuing people,” Mr. Russell said. But he added that those who made it out of the building safely were distressed after losing their possessions and their pets, and that rescue workers could assist “them with reunification or at least giving them the peace of mind that we are trying to help at least feed their animals.”

Chief Alan Cominsky of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said on Tuesday that his team did not find any indication of more pets still in the building.

The organization Friends of Miami Animals set up a hotline on Tuesday for residents of the collapsed building looking for assistance in rescuing pets. The hotline number is 833-366-2642.