I've just heard (via my agility coach's Yahoo list) that a mutual friend
lost nearly everything in a house fire on Friday night.
She has a wood stove, the chimney caught & quickly took the rest of the
house; she had time only to grab her purse, a set of car keys, and get the
dogs out of the house. The house is almost completely gone, and her three
cats almost certainly died in the fire.

There were five dogs, and in all the confusion one is missing.
She's fairly sure that the dog did get out, but bolted. Friends are helping
search the nearby woods, animal hospitals etc have been notified, and A.C.
is being watched; the dog is chipped, also. As of noon today, however,
still no sign of her.

So prayers and good thoughts, please, for her safety....

And for those in the Mid-Atlantic area who might hear of a found dog: she is
a Border Collie X Catahoula, who looks like a big-boned smooth B&W BC.

"sionnach" wrote:


And for those in the Mid-Atlantic area who might hear of a found dog: she
is a Border Collie X Catahoula, who looks like a big-boned smooth B&W BC.

Meant to say - she's missing from the Millersville area of Anne Arundel
County, but if she traveled, or was picked up by somebody driving, could
have ended up further away. I don't think she was wearing any sort of
external ID.

On Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:13:43 -0500, "sionnach"
wrote:

I've just heard (via my agility coach's Yahoo list) that a mutual friend
lost nearly everything in a house fire on Friday night.
She has a wood stove, the chimney caught & quickly took the rest of the
house; she had time only to grab her purse, a set of car keys, and get the
dogs out of the house. The house is almost completely gone, and her three
cats almost certainly died in the fire.

There were five dogs, and in all the confusion one is missing.
She's fairly sure that the dog did get out, but bolted. Friends are helping
search the nearby woods, animal hospitals etc have been notified, and A.C.
is being watched; the dog is chipped, also. As of noon today, however,
still no sign of her.

So prayers and good thoughts, please, for her safety....

And for those in the Mid-Atlantic area who might hear of a found dog: she is
a Border Collie X Catahoula, who looks like a big-boned smooth B&W BC.


I'll pass the word to my friends at the humane society!

so sorry for your friend's loss. Brian lost everything in a house
fire shortly before I met him. it's hard.
Nessa
--
trying to be the best human she can,

"Nessa" wrote:
I'll pass the word to my friends at the humane society!

Thanks! You never know how far lost dog might travel, especially with human
help.
Added detail, btw - she is 20" tall and weighs 42 lbs.


so sorry for your friend's loss. Brian lost everything in a house
fire shortly before I met him. it's hard.

It is. I've not had personal experience, praises be, but my sister Ruth
lost nearly everything in a fire in the early '90s, including one of two
household cats.
It was made even more traumatic by the fact that it was deliberately set -
don't know if you ever heard of Paul Keller, but he burned down 77
buildings, killing 3 people, in 6-month period. (Was the subject of a TV
movie a few years later, with the guy who played Doogie Howser, and Gerald
McRainey.)

"Nessa" wrote:

I'll pass the word to my friends at the humane society!

Thanks! Added data: The dog is 20" tall and weighs 42 lbs.

so sorry for your friend's loss. Brian lost everything in a house
fire shortly before I met him. it's hard.

Fires are traumatic, even if you don't lose everything.... worse yet if you
do. I've not personally experienced it, but my sister Ruth was a victim of
the Seattle arsonist** back in '92, and while she didn't lose everything,
she did lose one of two household cats, had much damaged, etc.


**Don't know if you ever heard of Paul Keller, but he was one of the worst
arsonists in history - in less than a year, set 77 fires which caused
hundreds of thousand in property damage and killed 3 people (residents of a
nursing home). There's suspicion that he was responsible for earlier fires,
as well, at least one of which was also fatal. They made a TV movie about
him a few years later, with the guy who played Doogie Howser as Keller, and
Gerald McRainey as his father.

"sionnach" wrote in message
...
I've just heard (via my agility coach's Yahoo list) that a mutual friend
lost nearly everything in a house fire on Friday night.
She has a wood stove, the chimney caught & quickly took the rest of the
house; she had time only to grab her purse, a set of car keys, and get
the dogs out of the house. The house is almost completely gone, and her
three cats almost certainly died in the fire.

There were five dogs, and in all the confusion one is missing.
She's fairly sure that the dog did get out, but bolted. Friends are
helping search the nearby woods, animal hospitals etc have been notified,
and A.C. is being watched; the dog is chipped, also. As of noon today,
however, still no sign of her.

So prayers and good thoughts, please, for her safety....

And for those in the Mid-Atlantic area who might hear of a found dog: she
is a Border Collie X Catahoula, who looks like a big-boned smooth B&W BC.

Our good thoughts and prayers go out as well. We are pretty far from
Millersville, so I doubt the dog will wander up this way, but you never
know.

I have been heating with a woodstove, and also kerosene space heaters, for
about 30 years, and I have had a couple of close calls. In both cases,
regular inspection, maintenance, and cleaning are of paramount importance.
Also, one should always use wood that is well seasoned, and avoid using
pine, fir, and similar wood (such as old lumber), because it can leave
heavy deposits of creosote, which is usually the cause of chimney fires.

I also had a problem where the chimney cap screen became clogged with
partially burned pieces of paper, which caught fire, but luckily it caused
no damage, and I had to clean the chimney and remove the screen. When the
chimney was partially clogged, and seemed not to be drawing well, I had a
fire just barely going, and I heard a loud pop, and the smoke alarm went
off, while I was upstairs. Apparently the smoke had built up to a point
where it ignited and actually exploded, but the woodstove and chimney
contained most of it. But some smoke did escape and set off the alarm.

With kerosene heaters, I had neglected to clean the wick on one of them for
a while, and while I was upstairs, the smoke alarm went off, and I saw that
the heater was flaring up and emitting a lot of smoke. It was very hard to
shut it down, because the wick was clogged and would not retract very far,
but eventually it went out.

These warnings are not meant to put any blame on your friend for the fire,
and sometimes there are other factors that can cause problems. Older
masonry chimneys need special care and professional inspection and
cleaning, as sometimes cracks develop that can cause flames to impinge on
hidden parts of the house's framing. You can get special liners for old
chimneys that will make them safer.

During this extra-cold weather, it is important for everyone to know about
fire safety and make sure they take every precaution to avoid problems such
as this. If you have not had your chimney inspected and cleaned this year,
please make sure you have it done ASAP. I hope this warning and advice will
help spare someone the grief and loss of a major fire, and I sincerely feel
for your friend who lost everything.

Paul and Muttley

In article ,
"sionnach" wrote:


And for those in the Mid-Atlantic area who might hear of a found dog: she is
a Border Collie X Catahoula, who looks like a big-boned smooth B&W BC.

I got e-mail about it. I truly feel for her.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

Sorry to hear this. I hope she finds her dog.
Poor cats
alison

--
Alison

"sionnach" wrote in message
...
I've just heard (via my agility coach's Yahoo list) that a mutual friend
lost nearly everything in a house fire on Friday night.
She has a wood stove, the chimney caught & quickly took the rest of the
house; she had time only to grab her purse, a set of car keys, and get
the dogs out of the house. The house is almost completely gone, and her
three cats almost certainly died in the fire.

There were five dogs, and in all the confusion one is missing.
She's fairly sure that the dog did get out, but bolted. Friends are
helping search the nearby woods, animal hospitals etc have been notified,
and A.C. is being watched; the dog is chipped, also. As of noon today,
however, still no sign of her.

So prayers and good thoughts, please, for her safety....

And for those in the Mid-Atlantic area who might hear of a found dog: she
is a Border Collie X Catahoula, who looks like a big-boned smooth B&W BC.