Dog celebrated for saving family from fire

Family dog Zeus has been elevated from pet to hero after his quick action saved the lives of his owners and their Crystal Harbour home early Friday morning when a massive boat fire threatened to destroy the property.

Kris Bergstrom and his wife, Debi Cridland-Bergstrom, say they are grateful to be alive thanks to their 7-year-old Belgian Malinois and his acute sense of danger.

“We’re very, very lucky that it wasn’t worse than it was. Our heart breaks with the loss of our boat which really was more than a boat to us and our family,” Cridland-Bergstorm said in an interview with the Cayman Compass Monday evening.

Wall of flames

The family’s 52-foot Lagoon catamaran, Bamboozle, which they use for their Surfside Charter business, caught fire in the early morning hours of Friday while the family slept.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

Bergstrom said investigators indicated that no foul play was suspected. He said he could not put a figure on the damages as the vessel had recently been upgraded, but he did say it was a “significant blow”.

Zeus kicked into protector mode when he spotted flames on the canal side of the Nelson Quay home, and alerted his family.

“ He was relentless with his barking and it was at 1:30am which is unusual [for him] and he would not stop until I said, ‘All right, buddy, let’s go out’,” Cridland-Bergstrom recalled.

“As I came out, [I] turned the corner in the kitchen and saw a wall of just bright orange and red flames. At that point, Bamboozle was already engulfed in flames.”

She said she immediately shouted for her husband and ran into her son Matthew’s bedroom to wake him.

She said she grabbed her cellphone and called 911.

Bergstrom said he ran outside and was terrified by what he saw.

“You’re in a state of shock and confusion and you’re also overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of the fire. This was a two-plus-storey boat and so we had a wall of flames out here. The concern was losing the house. The dock was on fire. The tree closest to the house here was on fire,” he said, as he described the sight that greeted him outside his home that morning.

He said they also had a second vessel on the dock next to Bamboozle which he jumped in and moved before it also caught fire.

“There was a lot of things running through our mind of what can we do to try to minimise what’s happening. The section that provides water where the boat is tied up was engulfed in flames so you couldn’t get to that. Luckily, we had water on the other side, so we grabbed that and we started to wet down the areas in the back,” he explained.

Close call

Bergstrom said he also grabbed the fire extinguisher, but it was completely useless.

“You’re talking about a major, major fire. We couldn’t get closer than 50 feet from it. Some of the furniture, pots and stuff have melted that are well away from the vessel. It was intense. It was terrifying,” he said.

Bergstrom said the Fire Service answered their prayers by coming quickly.

“That’s ultimately what saved us. We also got very lucky that the mast, when it burned and collapsed, [it] collapsed into the water away from the house and not onto the house,” he said.

The couple said they were also grateful to their neighbour who jumped in to help fight the fire.

“Our neighbour came over. He was amazing. Even though his house was also in danger, he came and assisted us with whatever we could do to assist the firemen to try to knock the fire down,” he said.

The couple, who also own Edgewater Development, said they were able to get one of their construction pumps from a job site in West Bay which they used to pump water out of the canal to fight the flames.

“That was a huge, huge help to contain the fire from spreading to the house,” Bergstrom said.

More than a boat

On Monday, the couple was busy clearing the area around their home that had been damaged by the fire.

The burnt shell of the vessel remained tied to the fire-damaged dock with its dingy lying sunken next to it.

Bergstrom said they are awaiting clearance from their insurance company and the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands to move the wreck.

He said the Department of Environment assessed the site and cleared it.

Cridland-Bergstrom, who got emotional talking about the loss of the vessel, said it was more than a boat, it was their dream that started 10 years ago.

“[It’s a loss also] to our guys that work with us because it’s their livelihood. It’s a big loss for us, our family and our team, but not one that we won’t be able to get through and see on the other side and make new dreams,” she said.

The boat carried many family memories, she added.

The family had been planning to take the boat on an excursion to Belize later this year and use it to travel the world, she said.

As for Zeus, Cridland-Bergstrom said the dog was being pampered.

“He’s had a T-bone [as his reward]. He certainly was the hero. He certainly saved not just our lives, but our home. So we’re grateful,” she added.