Animal hospital fire cause unknown

Evening hours at the Springfield Animal Hospital on Thursday could have proved to be a lifesaver, as staff members were on hand when a fire broke out at the River Street veterinary facility.

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Animal hospital fire cause unknown Rutland Herald | January 21, 2017 By SUSAN SMALLHEER STAFF WRITER Flames shoot out an attic vent Thursday night. at Springfield Animal Hospital. No animals or people were injured. PHOTO BY MATT VAN ALSTYNE Flames shoot out an attic vent Thursday night. at Springfield Animal Hospital. No animals or people were injured. PHOTO BY MATT VAN ALSTYNE SPRINGFIELD — Evening hours at the Springfield Animal Hospital on Thursday could have proved to be a lifesaver, as staff members were on hand when a fire broke out at the River Street veterinary facility. Dr. Dena Meehan said Friday that Dr. Laurie Livingstone was holding regular evening hours until 8 p.m., when one of the staff members noticed smoke. Livingstone called 911 and staff members were able to get the boarding animals and patient animals out of the building before the fire really erupted, Meehan said. All of the people made it out safely as well. Luckily, Meehan said, there weren’t many animals at the hospital that night.. She said all the animals went home to their owners after the fire. At noon Friday, Meeghan said the cause of the fire was undetermined, and fire officials wouldn’t let the staff back in the building yet. Thursday night, passersby saw the flames and stopped to help. Steve Green, of North Springfield, was driving north on River Street when he passed the animal hospital and saw flames in the back of the building. He turned his pickup around, jumped out and offered to help, but was told the animals were already out. He said he went to the back of the building and turned off the propane tanks. Other people tried to help, but firefighters urged people to keep back and said all the animals were safely out. Fire Capt. George Wheeler urged people to stay behind the fire hoses, and assured them the animals were out of the burning, smoke-filled building. Matt VanAlstyne was one of those concerned animal lovers. He and his friend Mike DeCamp parked in the animal hospital parking lot and offered help, but it wasn’t needed. Fire Chief Russell Thompson said Thursday evening it appeared the fire started in the vicinity of the animal hospital’s crematorium, but the department’s investigative team would work to pinpoint a cause and location. Thompson said the fire was near two chimneys on the northern side of the building. Once the fire was brought under control, the chief said, firefighters went into the building and started covering up vital equipment. He said the fire traveled into the attic, was continuing to smoulder and sent up plumes of smoke, and would likely mean that the fire department would be there for a while. Unseasonably mild temperatures meant freezing hoses wasn’t a problem. River Street was closed for several hours, as the main north-south road was filled with fire trucks and rescue crews from surrounding towns. “It couldn’t have worked out better for the safety of the animals,” Thompson said. Friday afternoon, he said his local fire investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the fire. “We have no cause or origin, and I’m not sure what they’re going to come up with,” the chief said. He thanked fire crews from surrounding communities for their help: Bellows Falls, Chester, Ascutney, WestWeathersfieldand Charlestown, NewHampshire.