Animal shelter recovers from fire

The New Nodaway Humane Society Animal Shelter is recovering from the December 19 fire.

Shelter Manager Wendy Combs said the fire started in the electrical circuits above the dog holding area. Reviewing the security tape, she believes it started around 3 am. She came in to work at 6:30 am and didn’t notice anything while she stayed in the main part of the shelter.

At 7:30 am, someone came in to say there was smoke. The fire was contained in the dog area of the shelter. Combs is thankful it didn’t spread into the main section since the whole shelter could have been lost.

The rafters do not need to be replaced, so the roof remains intact. All of the insulation has been removed which has taken the smoke smell from that area.

Approximately 40 dogs were evacuated. Pens and leashes were brought to the shelter by community members. The animals were covered by blankets. The dogs have been boarded at St. Joseph Animal Shelter, four; Fantastic Fidos, four to five; Ol’ Wash Tub grooming in Savannah, four; Nodaway Vet, four. The rest of the dogs and cats were fostered with community members. Even though there was no fire damage on the cat side, the only cats that stayed at the shelter were the sick ones.

Combs said there had been 20 adoptions in the three weeks since the fire, mostly from the foster families. Of the fostered cats, 75 percent were adopted.

Jeff Smith of Smith Contracting, Maryville, has been working on the reconstruction with guidelines from Maryville Code Enforcement Officer Jim Wiederholt. Coenen Electric has worked on replacing the electrical box and conduit. The company also has given the shelter bids on smoke detectors and fire alarms. The old ones did not work during the fire.

John Nickerson of Geist Heating and Air Conditioning has given the shelter “affordable” HVAC options. Before the fire, the shelter had worked with an engineer which gave them HVAC prices which were beyond their budget.

Combs is pleased with their insurance, AmeriTrust Insurance, adjuster and fire investigator. As a side note, the investigator fostered Pete, an Australian Shepherd and Pyrenees mix which she is now going to adopt.

The sad part has been one dog, St. Nick, a Pyrenees mix, got loose during the evacuation. Unable to catch him, the dog was hit and killed on the highway bypass.

At this point, Combs is expecting the cat area and the front to open within two weeks. Then within another week or so, the dogs will be brought into the main dog room. People will be unable to visit the dogs but employees will be able to bring the dogs out for viewing. After all the construction and cleaning is completed the entire shelter will be open.

Besides the boarding and fostering of animals, the following community people and businesses have reached out. The shelter received several Amazon packages with cleaning supplies and leashes. Purina, St. Joseph, donated and delivered two full pallets of wet cat food. Andrew County Emergency Management Agency did a Facebook plea, where St. Joseph’s Upco and other businesses, plus individuals donated a pickup full of items.

“Everything takes time,” Combs said. “It’s a step-by-step process. “A huge thank you to the community, the day of the fire and every day following. People everywhere have been great.”