A Fire in Bridleshire Farms

Here at Darwin Animal Doctors, we have many stories which champion the amazing work done by our veterinarians every day, on our variety of projects. Today, we have a story of a different hero; one of the many members of the Darwin Animal Doctors team, working behind the scenes to keep everyone out there doing what they are doing.

Hannah is a veterinary assistant who works from Delaware to support the Darwin Animal Doctors, as well as volunteering on many of the varying campaigns run by the organization. As it happens, Hannah first got involved with Darwin Animal Doctors as she had heard about their work through dog sitting for one of the board members. Hannah still dog sits for Terry and Alice, looking after their six dogs. As Terry and Alice are currently away, Hannah found herself, once again, with eight extra dogs to take care of (Terry’s six, and two others regularly looked after by Terry). Little did Hannah know, this dog sitting experience was not going to be like any other.

On the evening of the 12 of October, Hannah was heading to Terry’s house to feed and care for the eight dogs. As Hannah neared the street where Terry lived, she was horrified by what she saw. The beautiful 1742 converted barn house on the property next to Terry’s (and between Hannah and the dogs) was ablaze. The fire was of epic proportions; Six separate fire houses were initially called to fight the fire, with flames estimated to extend 75 feet into the air. With the fire as wild as it was, so close to Terry’s house, Hannah knew the helpless dogs might soon be in a lot of trouble. In a split second, she made a heroic and selfless decision. Hannah parked at the end of the street and ran towards Terry’s house, right past the blazing fire. She quickly collected all eight, terrified dogs and loaded them into Alice’s car, driving them to her house – to safety.

Later, Hannah found out that the fire had required twelve fire houses 90 minutes to control the blaze. The house was completely destroyed, and while, thankfully, the human members of the family living there survived, their family dog did not.

Despite the devastating circumstances, the Bridleshire community came together after the event, in appreciation for the twelve firehouses who worked so tirelessly to contain the wild blaze. In a wonderful gesture of gratitude, the community baked dozens and dozens of cookies, delivering them to each individual fire house involved. The Darwin Animal Doctors team, and especially Terry and Alice, would also like to thank Hannah for demonstrating such selflessness, and for going above and beyond to protect their eight beloved dogs that night.

Our thoughts go out to all involved in the event, and especially to the family who lost their home and their dog. May you all recover peacefully from this incident.