Terrible fire in PA kennel

[CoraP.]

I thought I should post this. There was a terrible fire in PA and many chows were killed as well as other dogs that were boarding at the kennel. They could use some help! http://www.netchows.net/cgi-bin/forum/Y ... 1236453133

[Red Dragon]

I really feel sorry for the dogs, that's a horrible way to go. Fire is always my worst nightmare as far as the dogs are concerned. Many insurers won't even insure a home with propane anymore, and when they do, the insurance is usually sky high.

[Laura]

That is so heart breaking...just awful. I don't even have words. Ughhhhhh. So sad...those poor babies!!

[Dogdad]

those poor babies, it is so sad

David

[Laura]

There are other updates and videos if you scroll down and click links. 17 have died and one video shows 4 of the injured at a vet clinic. It says one of the Chows is Martha's Stewarts that she got after Paw Paw died. The truck driver saved one even though he was critically injured in the blast.

[fillyok]

They've raised almost $1000 so far, but probably need much more...such a tragedy.

[Chutters]

Please see a separate post for more information.

This was Chutter's breeder and Chutter's mom died in the fire.

It's just heartbreakings and yes, Martha Stewart's new baby Ghengis Khan also died in the fire. She has a memorial to her Ghengis Khan on her web site.

[Sirchow]

This is heart breaking. I can't imagine what all involved are going through. So so sad.

[carolyn dewrance]

Oh my God, how did this happen, how terrible, I just dont have words to express my sorrow, what a terrible loss to the chow world, Karen please accept my deepest sympathy on the loss of these wonderful dogs.

[mamasboy]

CoraP and Chutters,
Thanks for your post(s) regarding this devastating story. I cannot imagine the pain and agony Karen's family, the truck driver, the owners of the animals lost in the fire and anyone else (animal and human) affected by this tragedy are going through right now. If you want to donate here is the direct link.
http://www.amazee.com/chow-kennel-devistated-fire-0

Everyone please take a moment and say a prayer
MJ

[bama]

This is just horrible! Those poor babies!

Sam, I didn't know about the insurance limitations with propane.
I'll have to keep that in mind, as we are looking for a house in the country.

[redangie24]

I just read about this and was going to post. I am so sorry to hear that this hit so close to home for some on this board. This is a horrible tragity. This is absolutely hearbreaking. Poor, Poor babies.

[carolyn dewrance]

For those of you who have not read the story, Here it is with a video of some of the dogs. Heart breaking not suitable for sensitive viewers

http://www.amazee.com/node/7304/magazine


A dog injured in Friday's explosion at a Carbon County kennel died overnight, raising the death toll to 16 animals, according to a former worker at Pazzazz Pet Boarding, who was at the site today.

Kennel workers have identifed all of the badly-burned dogs, even though fire damaged some of the microchips implanted under the animals' coats that contain identification information.

A dozen dogs were injured and taken to nearby animal hospitals after the blast, which occurred when a propane tank at the kennel exploded while being filled from a tanker truck, igniting a fire that roared through the pens and sent flames 75 feet high. Six of those dogs have since been released, the owners have said.

The truck driver, whose name has not been released, was severely burned, and five police and wildlife officers were slightly hurt -- some while making what officials described as extraordinary efforts to rescue dogs from the blazing Pazzazz Pet Boarding kennel near Beltzville State Park in Franklin Township.
''You could see dogs running around in there on fire,'' said Jeff Frace, a police officer from neighboring Mahoning Township, whose skin and hair were singed as he carried a half-dozen dogs to safety and kicked open pens to get others out.

Franklin police officer Frank Buonaiuto said another Mahoning officer, Rob Hontz, and Franklin officer Jason Doll also had minor burns from carrying dogs to safety.

But Frace, with a hole burned in his shirt, said officers were turned back by flames so intense they melted the siding off the nearby home of Karen Tracy and her mother, Jean Ahner, who have owned the kennel on Pohopoco Drive for 15 years.

Well-known in dog circles, Tracy exhibited a dog at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show last month and has sold dogs to Martha Stewart. State records show satisfactory inspections at the kennel from 2006-2008, the only years posted on the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement Web site.

Frace, who said he owns three dogs, said the rescuers ''couldn't get into the interior because it was so involved.

State Game Commission officers Scott Christman and Dave Roberts said they helped tear down fencing so dogs could escape and took the truck driver to a neighbor's house to await an ambulance, then returned to help round up the animals.

All five rescuers were treated for smoke inhalation, Buonaiuto said.

The kennel was destroyed, but no other people were injured and, in the rural area, no other structures threatened, so officials didn't have to evacuate the area, Franklin Fire Chief Kevin Lilly said.

Neither emergency officials nor the gas company, AmeriGas Propane of Stroudsburg, would release the driver's name, pending notification of his family. He was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, Carbon County Emergency Management Coordinator Mark Nalesnik said.

Herb Schmidt, area manager for AmeriGas, declined to comment.

Tracy and Ahner were so distraught they were being monitored by emergency personnel and couldn't comment.

Eight of the dogs killed -- two were puppies -- were Tracy and Ahner's, said Donna Crum, director of the Carbon Animal Rescue Team, a new first-responder group for animals. All eight were chow chows, which the women bred. The rest of the dogs -- Labradors, Rottweilers, basset hounds and Jack Russell and other terriers -- were boarders. In all, there were 30 dogs in the kennel.

One dog fled and was seen nearby on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and caught, and all the kennel's dogs were accounted for, Crum said. After putting out the fire, personnel did a pen-by-pen search and recovered the bodies.

Of the injured dogs, six were severely hurt, with burns to the face and respiratory tracts or burns that melted and matted their coats ''down to the skin,'' said Rob Bergstresser, a Rescue Team volunteer. ''Their thick coats are what saved these animals.''

Others had minor burns on their paws or severe anxiety. All had symptoms of smoke inhalation.

The dogs were wetted down, given oxygen, calmed and taken to Creatures Comfort, a 24-hour veterinarian facility in Saylorsburg, or to the Lehighton Animal Hospital, Crum said. The facilities would not release information on the dogs' conditions Saturday.
Buonaiuto said the propane truck driver was filling the outdoor tank about 2:25 p.m. when the explosion happened. Buonaiuto said officials don't know what caused it, but Nalesnik said it could have been from a spark, even static electricity. The blaze raced through the wooden kennel, Buonaiuto said.

Christman and Roberts, the Game Commission officers, said they were stocking fish in a stream just down the road when they heard the explosion and saw the flames leap into the sky. They raced to the site to find the kennel fully engulfed in flames and the truck driver out of the vehicle, severely burned and asking for help.

With the tanker just 20 feet from the blaze -- and its hose on fire, Christman said -- they got the driver away. ''We didn't know if the gas truck was going to blow up,'' he said. It did not explode.

Frace said he arrived quickly, followed by fire personnel, who moved the truck, then sprayed down the kennel in foam.

Buonaiuto said the propane truck driver was filling the outdoor tank about 2:25 p.m. when the explosion happened. Buonaiuto said officials don't know what caused it, but Nalesnik said it could have been from a spark, even static electricity. The blaze raced through the wooden kennel, Buonaiuto said.

Christman and Roberts, the Game Commission officers, said they were stocking fish in a stream just down the road when they heard the explosion and saw the flames leap into the sky. They raced to the site to find the kennel fully engulfed in flames and the truck driver out of the vehicle, severely burned and asking for help.

With the tanker just 20 feet from the blaze -- and its hose on fire, Christman said -- they got the driver away. ''We didn't know if the gas truck was going to blow up,'' he said. It did not explode.

Frace said he arrived quickly, followed by fire personnel, who moved the truck, then sprayed down the kennel in foam.
Related links
• Pet boarding facility explosion Photos
''We tried to protect as many [dogs] as possible. That was our chief concern,'' said Lilly, the fire chief. He said five companies responded to the blaze.

''Everybody worked together,'' Frace said. ''They gave the dogs the best chance they could to get out.''

Television's Stewart has adopted numerous dogs from Tracy, first buying Paw Paw, who died in April of renal failure. Then, when Stewart decided to get another chow, she adopted one of Paw Paw's grandsons, Ghenghis Khan. Stewart has posted pictures of the puppy on her Web site, praising his health and temperament.

Tracy frequently entered her dogs in competition. In February, she and Gerry and Richard Roberts entered a 2-year-old chow named Champion Liontamer's Dial 1-800-Hotstuff into the esteemed Westminster Kennel Club show. It received an Award of Merit.

Tracy says on her Web site that she was recognized by the national Chow Chow Club for having the best female chow at the club's national convention.

Reporters Kelly-Anne Suarez and Nicole Radzievich contributed to this story.

[pfordeb]

I did what I could and spread the word to my friends. This is an unspeakable tragedy for everyone.

[Chutters]

Karen has, with the help of her friends, been keeping a close eye on the chows that are still in intensive care.

Two more have since died, making the total 17. There are still couple that are hanging on. She hasn't worried about anything but the surviving dogs.

[TJordan]

Oh my, this is such a sad horrible story. Those poor dogs and their people.