Silverton, OR – On Saturday night, a devastating house fire destroyed a house in Silverton, displacing two people and killing 30 cats with the Silverton Cat Rescue. According to sources, fire investigators traced the source of the fire to an electrical problem that severely impacted the patio of the house where the rescue cats were kept in a “catio.”

As reported by KPTV News, seven cats are believed to have survived and some may have escaped to the surrounding neighborhood. Neighbor Denise Smith tells the news agency:

“I’m just really sad,. It was just really hard to hear that many were lost. It’s just hard to think about. You go to that much work and you put that much love and attention into animals and then to have something catastrophic happen like that – it’s just horrible. It’s the unpreventable stuff that’s the hardest to deal with.”

The rescue group has posted a fundraiser on their Facebook page.

The house impacted by the blaze is a total loss.