An Amerigas propane delivery driver is in critical condition and 12 dogs lost their lives Friday afternoon when a propane tank being filled inside the kennel area of Pazzazz Boarding Kennel exploded, causing a horrendous fire.
The driver who was making a delivery to the kennel at 499 Pohopoco Drive in Franklin Township, which is in the back yard of the kennel owner's home, was trapped inside a chain-link fence enclosure during the explosion and was freed by two officers with Pa. Fish and Boat Commission.
The driver's identity was not released yesterday. He was transported by PennSTAR helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital.The kennel owners are Karen Tracy and her mother, Jean Ahner. Tracy was at home when she heard the explosion behind her house.Lynette Faust, who owns the Beltzville Manor Marine across the street from the kennel, along with two officers from the Pa. Fish and Boat Commission, Scott Christman and David Roberts, who were driving by, called the Carbon County Communication Center at nearly the same time to report the explosion and fire.Faust's husband, Henry, said there was an explosion and then the fire, virtually instantaneously."The flames were about 10 to 12 feet above the kennel," said Henry Faust.Approximately 25 to 30 dogs were trapped inside the kennel during the explosion and smoky fire.Officer Jason Doll of the Franklin Township Police Department said that it was the two Pa. Fish and Boat officers, along with Roger Fisher of Lehighton, who was also driving in the area, who stopped and ripped down the fence to free the driver.Fisher said that the delivery driver was scorched black from the explosion, but before he was freed, he picked up one of the dogs in the kennel and threw it over the fence, saving its life."That man is a hero in my book," said Fisher. "As injured as he was he thought of the dog before his own safety." He said that the man walked toward the street and laid down on his back.Tracy was so distraught that she could not remember just how many dogs were in the kennel at the time of the fire.
The dogs were far from ordinary house pets. Tracy breeds, boards and trains dogs who compete in shows throughout the country, including the prestigious Westminster Dog Show. At the show held Feb. 9, Maddox, one of the chow chow she co-owns with Gerry Roberts and Richard Roberts of Maryland, received an Award of Merit. Maddox wasn't expected to do quite as well because of his young age. He's under two years of age.It wasn't known if Maddox was at the kennel when the explosion occurred.
Doll said that he had just arrived at the police station for his 3 o'clock shift when he heard the call come in at 2:30 p.m. about the fire and before he was on the scene, Mahoning Township police officers Jeff Frace and Rob Hontz arrived and began rescuing the dogs from the kennel. This was Hontz's first shift as an officer at Mahoning Township Police Department.Doll commended Hontz for helping rescue the dogs."Some of the dogs were in flames when the officers arrived," said Doll. "They said they never saw anything so disturbing before in their lives."
When Doll arrived on the scene, he assisted with rescuing the dogs. As the news of the devastating fire spread, more and more volunteers were on the scene to round up the dogs.While the rescued animals were being treated, more volunteers arrived and began the search for dogs who were injured and found wandering in the nearby wooded area. A Rottweiler with first degree burns was found standing in the middle of the Pohopoco Creek. Two other injured dogs were found along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
As Tracy watched her animals arrive to the triage area, she found that she could not identify them because of their extensive burns. Their once beautiful silky burnished orange hair was singed and their skin blacked and red and raw."We'll have to identify them by their computer chips," said Tracy.Several of the dogs were being boarded at the kennel. Tracy said one of the dogs was likely pregnant because she had bred it last week. The dog was shipped for breeding from Florida.While the dogs were being treated for their burns, the medical chopper arrived and picked up the injured driver and the firefighters from Franklin Township, Parryville, Towamensing, Lehighton, and Penn Forest fire departments put out the smoldering fire. All the siding was burned off on the rear of Tracey's home.
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