Shop employee Kendall Carlson managed to get 15 animals to safety but she couldn't reach six other puppies and two cats, despite her efforts to fight the fire. "There was a hose that was connected to the shower and I tried to spray out the flames but it wouldn't reach, so I went and grabbed the phone and called 9-1-1 and started to spray them a little bit more, but it just wouldn't reach and so I just basically started pulling all the dogs from the front and it got way too smoky in the back." She said.
One of the dogs Kendall saved was Bailey ... her owner, 8-year-old Jessi Swenning was on her way to pick him up when she and her mother saw the flames. "My Mom took her to the groomer she came over to pick her up then she realized there was a fire so we were kind of freaking out and I was wondering if she was still alive." She said.
All the pets in for grooming were saved, but animal rescue volunteer Kathleen Hendron says this place was more than a dog salon. "Certainly this is very devastating because many of the animals that were here, while some were owned by people brought in to be groomed. The majority were in foster here waiting to go into rescue organizations, waiting to be adopted."
The grooming shop was headquarters for Pawsitive Connection. Part of a network that provides temporary care for abandoned animals and those saved from death at animal shelters. The survivors have been temporarily relocated, but now, more than ever, they and many other dogs and cats in this network, need to find permanent homes.
Pawsitive Connections
PO Box 591
Kingsburg, CA.
(559) 897-9798
