Three puppies die in SpokAnimal fire

Three puppies died after a small fire broke out Saturday afternoon at SpokAnimal, according to Executive Director Dori Peck.

The dogs, who were about three months old, were in the animal shelter’s quarantine trailer, at 714 N. Napa St., just north of the main shelter building, at 710 N. Napa St., Peck said.

“We’re just heartbroken,” she said.

A neighbor noticed smoke coming from the trailer and called 911, Peck said. Several fire trucks and firefighters responded.

Firefighters were called to the fire at about 12:40 p.m. and cleared the scene about two hours later, according to the PulsePoint app. The Spokane Fire Department could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Fire crews did everything they could to save the dogs, but “they were already gone,” Peck said.

“They were amazing,” she said of the firefighters.

The dogs, a Chihuahua mix and two Australian shepherd mixes, died from smoke inhalation, she said.

Peck said lithium batteries exploded inside a plugged-in Bluetooth speaker, sparking the fire.

There were some flames inside the trailer, but smoke from the fire and water from firefighters putting out the blaze caused most of the damage, she said. Peck and SpokAnimal officials will evaluate the damage and determine what they will do with the trailer.

Peck said the building was a construction trailer Garco Construction donated to SpokAnimal about seven years ago. SpokAnimal remodeled it for quarantine use. The three puppies were being treated for parvovirus, Peck said.

No other animals or people were inside the trailer when the fire started.

She said the number of animals in the trailer at any time varies from zero to about 30.

“It’s so horrible, but it could have been a lot worse,” Peck said.

The main building across the parking lot has about 150 animals at any time.

“These kind of things devastate our team, but we’ll rally,” Peck said. “Accidents happen.”