Dog Saves Person and Animals In Shelter Fire

Early in the morning, shortly after midnight on March 20, 2010, a dryer caught on fire at the Berkeley-East Bay-Humane Society (in the San Francisco area).  The flames spread quickly. In an apartment above the shelter, a woman was sleeping with her Pitbull-Boxer mix, Baby.  She did not hear the smoke alarms. No one knew that the fire had started and was rapidly expanding. Baby, however, knew that something was wrong, and jumped on the sleeping woman, waking her and allowing her to escape with Baby.

Ultimately, 15 cats died at the shelter.  They had been put in a wing that was close the dryer because they were ready for adoption, and they suffered the initial brunt of the fire. But because of Baby’s quick response, shelter employees and volunteers flooded to the area along with the fire department and managed to save 25 dogs and cats. The animals that were saved were behind a closed door away from the flames, and the door retarded the smoke and the fire long enough for the animals to be rescued.

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Both the shelter and the apartment were completely gutted. All of the animals were rushed to other shelters, to the offices of nearby vets, and to foster homes.  The Bay-Area community pitched in, providing volunteers and donations. Now the shelter is looking for a temporary home while its gutted offices and facilities are being rebuilt. This is not an easy task.  They are continuing their efforts to save some 800 animals a year from being euthanized, and at the same time are trying to raise around $1 million to repair the shelter.

But the hero of the day was Baby. Without Baby’s quick response, both Baby and Baby’s person would have died, along with all of the other dogs and cats.

For those of you who have been reading these blog posts regularly, you will remember that a regular commentator on this blog is Nancy Frensley, who is in charge of the training programs at the East Bay-Berkeley Humane Society.  Fortunately, the training facility was not affected by the fire, and the shelter continues its service of helping people work with their animals.

If you would like to help the shelter, please see their website at http://www.berkeleyhumane.org.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Comments

[Ashley]

Thank you for this update - I used to volunteer at BEBHS and I didn't know. This is terrible.

[Randall Johnson]

This was a very moving story! I hope it will help the Shelter raise the funds needed for repairs.