JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A decade after a fire killed dozens of cats and dogs at the Jacksonville Humane Society, both firefighters and animal advocates said Friday that the images and sounds still haunt them to this day.
The toughest part about losing 86 animals to the early morning fire, according to the people who witnessed it, was that many of the dogs and cats perished while locked up in their cages, and there was nothing that firefighters could do to help.
“Every bark, wail, screech, anything you can imagine that an animal can emit, that's what we were hearing,” Jacksonville Fire Rescue spokesman Tom Francis recalled. “Words just can't describe it."
Francis said the fire and the loss of the animals have weighed on his heart for a decade.
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"I could see flames 30 feet into the sky, parallel with the top of the treeline,” he said, describing the 2007 blaze at the JHS building off Beach Boulevard.
When firefighters arrived, they did all they could to free dozens of pets from their cages, but the fire soon burned out of control.
Francis said the turning point in the fire fight came when a part of the building’s roof collapsed and firefighters were forced to pull out all of their resources for their own safety and let the building burn.
“You're talking about animals confined in cages with no ability to get out of that predicament, relying 100 percent on emergency responders to save their lives,” Francis said.
He said the event was so traumatic that he hadn't returned to the Humane Society until earlier this week.
The Jacksonville Humane Society built a new hospital after the fire and is building a shelter with safety in mind.
Both buildings have extensive fire suppression systems in case of an accidental fire.
But even as the shelter is expanding and looking to the future, its workers have never forgotten the 86 animals that died in the fire.
“It was devastating to our staff and community in general,” said Ann Korczyk with JHS. “This is the memorial for all 86 animals, and the ashes are buried here."