UPDATED: House fire with 129 dogs inside. 125 of them are saved. The story from Huntingtown, Maryland.
Huntingtown Volunteer Fire Department story by Chief Jonathan Riffe:
Sunday December 12, 2010 (after a long eventful night) at 0245 hours, Chief 6 (Riffe), Chief 6A (Montgomery), Chief 6B (Thrasher), Safety Officer 6 (McKenny), Lieutenant 6 (Buckler), Engine 61 (Montgomery Jr), Squad 6 (Miller), Brush 6 (Bowen, S) and Ambulance 69 (Colliflower) were alerted for the house fire at 1221 Neptune Lane. In addition units from the Dunkirk VFD, North Beach VFD and Prince Frederick VFD were alerted to the call.
Brief videos on this page from HVFD member Dennis Hook. Pictures can be found here.
Chief 6 arrived on location reporting a one-story wood-frame residence with heavy smoke showing. With no occupants present and cries from inside, a report of persons possibly trapped was initiated. Engine 61 arrived on location, stretching the 200′ attack line and began knocking down all visible fire in the ceiling and 1st floor. Squad 6 went to work performing an aggressive search for trapped persons through the thick smoke as well as opening up for the engine companies. It quickly became apparent that the cries were not people (they left the residence safely), but several dozen dogs trapped.
A Working Fire Dispatch was quickly requested bringing additional units from Calvert and Anne Arundel County. The number of trapped dogs quickly escalated from 30 to 50 and eventually to 129 dogs. Due to excellent teamwork by all firefighters on the scene, 125 dogs were safely removed from the residence (4 perished). At the same time, units remained working to extinguish the fire and stopping the fire from spreading to multiple exposures.
In addition, Animal Control, SMECO, Red Cross and the Fire Investigator were requested to the scene. Units from the Huntingtown VFD operated until 0445 hours.
