Over the weekend, a Blue Ridge house fire killed one woman and sent another to the hospital. It also threatened to destroy an animal rescue built by friends over more than two decades.
Chloe’s Pet Rescue founder Leslie Engelmann said it was just before seven Saturday morning when she woke to smoke filling the Blue Ridge home she shared with her best friend, Cathy Denton.
“I was screaming her name, and I couldn't hear her,” said Engelmann.
Engelmann said both were trying to make their way out of the house when Denton turned around to grab one of the dogs.
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That’s when she said an explosion, from propane tanks on the property, threw her several feet into the front yard.
Denton never made it back out.
"How did I get out? Why isn't my best friend sitting here beside me or in a bed beside me with burns?” said Engelmann.
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Engelmann was transported to a nearby hospital where she was recovering from third-degree burns.
In addition to killing Denton, she said the fire claimed the lives of about two dozen dogs, both pets and rescue animals.
Engelmann said she and Denton started working together in 1999, forming Chloe’s Pet Rescue through a shared love of animals.
"If I said I'm going to the shelter. She was right she was running and jumping in the cockpit right beside me and she'd be my shotgun person and we would go down there and save some lives,” Engelmann said.
In the hours following the fire, volunteers and partner rescues jumped into action to secure and find temporary shelter for the 34 animals that survived.
"There were about six that came up to my car, and I just started throwing them in,” said volunteer Lisa Webb.
Others were secured by Heart and Bones Rescue, which found the dogs safe and temporary shelter. Some will soon be on a transport to find new homes in New York City. Webb hopes they'll find the same for all of the animals that are now displaced.
"Hopefully they're going to go to good homes and they won't remember it,” she said.
Eventually, Engelmann hopes to rebuild, though she knows healing will take time.
"Don't ever take the day for granted. Life is precious. We're not done,” said Engelmann.
