Fire survivor "Boozer" rests after making small attempts to play with a ball.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
WINLOCK – Boozer, an 11-year-old black Labrador, is slowly recovering from burns that singed his face and fur and left wounds on his paws and an elbow.
He and two female Labradors escaped or were rescued when a small barn used as a kennel went up in flames early last week at the Winlock home of Tina and Bill Powe and their two teenaged children.
Ten other dogs and a litter of five-week-old puppies weren’t so lucky.
Tina Powe
Many more of the family’s Labradors and some who are being boarded temporarily were unhurt because they were housed in another building and an outside kennel.
The Powe property is home of Pridezion Labrador Retrievers, a breeding and obedience training facility on the 700 block of South Military Road.
“Some people think it’s kind of silly to hurt this bad over it, but they were family,” Tina Powe said.
Powe calls the building that burned the “nursery”. It’s where retired dogs and puppies slept in pens.
The fire investigator says the cause of the fire will be listed as undetermined.
There was just too much damage to pinpoint it, but more than likely was related to a heat lamp, Fire Investigator Jay Birley said yesterday.
Exactly what happened is somewhat unclear.
Firefighters from three departments called about 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 22 found the metal barn fully involved in flames and fought it defensively.
Tina Powe said she was awakened by dogs barking and saw a glow through a window. When she opened her front door, Boozer and two female Labradors were standing on the front steps, she said.
She and her husband went outside and tried to rescue dogs, she said.
“Oh my God it was hot, so hot,” she said. “And I didn’t know smoke was solid.”
Bill Powe ended up with burns on his hands and stomach. Tina Powe collapsed.
“It felt like my spirit was leaving me. I felt like I was dying,” she said dissolving into a sob and then taking a moment to breathe slowly. “I can’t talk about that.”
Friends of the family, two men and two teenage boys took care of retrieving the casualties and took them to Aberdeen to be cremated.
They are all together in an oversized wooden urn that yesterday sat on a china hutch in the family’s dining room.
They’ve gotten the go-ahead from the insurance company to tear down the building, and yesterday worked on reinforcing the outdoor kennel with tarps for warmth.
The contents were not insured, so they face replacing all their dog-care supplies, such as food and supplements, blankets, toys and leashes, she said.
Boozer, a retired stud and hunting dog, rested on a blanket in the living room.
His eyes itch, she said. His paws are still swollen, but the skin has grown back. He’s been on antibiotics and pain medicine.
“This has taken a lot out of him,” Tina Powe said.
Just yesterday morning, she said, his ball was nearby, tucked inside a “chucker” and he was trying to get it out to play.
“This is how I knew he was okay,” she said.
The small barn that was used a a nursery for Pridezion Labrador Retrievers will soon be torn down.
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