Animal clinic workers mourn as fire probed

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Shortly after clearing the dishes from Thursday night's Thanksgiving table, an Animal Clinic of St. Francis volunteer began thinking about a buff-colored pit bull puppy caged at the hospital.

She'd grown attached to the pup, due to be adopted the next day.

"I'm going to bring him back to my house for the night," she told a fellow volunteer at whose home she'd had dinner. And so she did.

Today, the woman can only wish she'd brought home nearly 80 other animals in the clinic that night.

Hours after the volunteer locked up the clinic with the puppy safe in her arms, 64 cats and two dogs died of smoke inhalation when a restaurant in the same shopping center went up in flames.

For veterinarian Alan Isquith, his wife, and the rest of the team at the clinic at 569 E. Twain Ave., what should have been a holiday of thankfulness instead has been marked by tears and heartbreak.

They have had to deliver the worst news imaginable to families that had boarded their pets at the clinic. They've lost thousands of dollars worth of medicines, operating tools, pet food and computers.

And with each animal's body removed from the building, volunteer Peggie Flaim says they have lost a friend.

"Every animal had a name, every animal had a different personality," Flaim said. "They were part of our family. So many lives have been lost as innocent byproducts of such a ridiculous, horrible tragedy."

Isquith took over the business a year ago, providing to the public a low-cost clinic where pets could be spayed/neutered, vaccinated, medically treated, groomed and boarded.

The clinic also took in strays and abandoned pets -- some of whose owners brought them in for treatment and never came back.

Arson investigators were expected to return today to the charred remains of the Alias Smith & Jones restaurant that erupted in flames shortly after 4 a.m. Friday.

It was the third, and most destructive, fire to occur at the restaurant in a month. Damage has been placed at $500,000.

"It's definitely suspicious," said Bob Leinbach, Clark County Fire Department spokesman, hesitant to discuss details of the previous fires on Nov. 10 and 15 that also started in the early-morning hours before employees arrived.

"A few people have been interviewed, and we are still attempting to contact the (restaurant) owner," who is in Australia, Leinbach said.

Josie, the department's arson-detection dog, was expected to visit the site today to sniff out clues to a cause of the three-alarm blaze that gutted the building in 90 minutes amid 30 mph winds.

If arson is the cause, Leinbach said fire officials will consider leveling involuntary animal cruelty charges if a suspect is arrested.

"If this was arson and an indictment does result, it certainly should include animal cruelty," Flaim said. "If you create one incident, and it overflows into something else, you have to be held responsible. Sixty-six lives are not something you can just forget about."

Like Coco and Mutsy -- an Akita and an Akita mix. They were a top priority in their owner's will. Upon her death, the elderly woman's nephew was left a sizable sum to ensure the dogs would not be put to sleep, Flaim said.

"Her nephew placed them with us, hoping we could either find a home for these dogs or else his situation would change and he could find a place with a yard," she said.

Their chance never came.

Coco and Mutsy died in their cages, the blackened walls of the clinic a haunting reminder of the lethal carbon monoxide that quickly spread through the ceiling airspace the plaza businesses share.

A fire wall on the east side of the restaurant could only block flames.

Another clinic volunteer and her husband who live a block away heard the sirens and rushed to the plaza, saving nine dogs and 10 cats by carting them home.

Among the survivors awaiting homes is Thunder, a 6-year-old blind pit bull. Five surviving felines were adopted Sunday. The buff-colored pit bull pup is also up for adoption; the man who promised to retrieve her was a no-show.

Donations to help the clinic can be made at Wells Fargo Bank, No. 184-010-6302. To adopt a pet, call 733-2011.

"The animals that died are what really makes me feel bad," said Marie Graham of Las Rosas Beauty Salon, next door to the clinic.

Despite airing out the salon and sprinkling baking soda around to absorb the odor, the stench of fire still lingers.

"I don't know how many buckets of water we used to get this place clean," Graham said. "We had to tear out the carpet. The damage from the smoke was so bad; it looked like the linoleum had been painted black."

Graham said the salon lost customers because of the smoky smell.

Green Valley Grocery, the salon's neighbor to the west, took a loss on its food, but brought a crew in to clean up and restock its shelves.

Yet no one's loss, customers and shopkeepers agreed, is worse than the animal clinic's.

"Those people are very dedicated to their animals," Graham said. "Some nights when I'd be here late, they'd still be in there doing surgery or coming in on calls. They were there almost around the clock."