JCAPL's Outreach Program Replaces Dog Houses after Fire

It’s a cool, clear afternoon. Wind chimes sway, but aren’t providing much music as a steady, yet gentle breeze moves through the air. A picture perfect day - until your vehicle turns down your street and the rancid odor of burning rubber and plastic travel to greet you before you can see where it is coming from. A mixture of alarm and a terrible, sinking feeling hits you as you approach closer to view the damage.

FIRE! Wood and yard debris, burned in a neighbor’s barrel two days before, thought to be long cold, had been resurrected by a still smoldering ember. The breeze supplied just the boost needed to create flame and carry bits of burning matter over the top of the barrel onto the dry dormant grass below, which provided more fuel for the flames.

Fires are almost like living beings, many times unpredictable are the paths they will choose to travel. Like a child playing ‘eenie-meanie-miney-mo,’a fire will sometimes veer almost out of its way to go around one structure in its path, yet will devour others, showing no mercy, with its red, hot rage.

Luckily, quick thinking saved neighborhood pets. As the flames burned dog houses, one neighbor helped the dogs in two yards get to safety, moving one from his kennel and another from his chain as flames burning the grass surrounding the frightened dogs started to close in on them.

The fire department arrived and killed the blaze before it could do any further damage.

While the fire totally destroyed one van, damaged two homes, and devoured the lawns and shrubs of five property owners, no person or pet was injured. Jordan, a sweet German Shepherd Dog who had just celebrated his first birthday, was brought to his vet to be checked out. Other than stressed from his ordeal, he was just fine.

Dina Westbrook, JCAPL ‘Operation Doghouse’ coordinator, made a special delivery the following day to replace the charred doghouses of both dogs with new ones.

"It’s what we do." JCAPL vice president Vickie Vonn told the dog house recipients when they thanked her gratefully. While JCAPL doesn’t always have doghouses on hand, fortunately Dina had just purchased some. Donations of doghouses are always needed. Old, new, manufactured or hand-made, if they are in good shape and can give a dog shelter from the elements, they can be put to good use.

If you burn any debris in your yard, always be sure there is no breeze blowing. Burn after a good rainfall, or be sure to soak the area of the yard surrounding your fire barrel with water before starting your fire. Have buckets of water, a shovel and some sand nearby. Stay with the fire until it is completely out. Make sure that fires are out by spreading all burned residue piles by hand. Remember, just one spark from a small yard fire can turn a relatively small blaze into a dangerous and fast moving wildfire in minutes.

While fires that grow out of control are best left for professionals to handle, if ever there is a fire in your neighborhood, please remember any outside pets and if you can do so without endangering yourself, help them to safety.