Fire at dog trainer's Burnaby home kills 9 animals

Smoke from Burnaby fire kills 9 pets Smoke did the damage at the home of a professional dog trainer.

A professional dog trainer who lost nine animals in a fire at her home says she will “never be okay.”

There were nine dogs and three cats in the Burnaby home when flames broke out around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday night.

Dove Creswell was out teaching a dog agility class when the fire started, and returned home to find the residence filled with smoke.

Firefighters were able to knock down the fire quickly but were unable to save most of the pets because of the smoke.

Captain Dean Thomas of the Burnaby Fire Department says it was an emotional situation for the crews, and grief counselling will be offered to those that worked on the fire.

“The look in some of the guys’ eyes was pretty upsetting,” he told CTV Morning Live.

“They tried their best. Because we only have two pet resuscitators, guys were using their own face pieces and doing CPR on the dogs as the dogs were brought out of the building."

Creswell, who runs a dog training company, lost three of her own four dogs and four that she was watching for friends. Two cats were also killed.

She was taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. One dog and one cat that survived were taken to a veterinarian for treatment.

Creswell has been a longtime dog trainer in the film industry, working on films and TV series including Once Upon a Time, Marley and Me 2 and Marmaduke, according to her biography on DogWorks.

She participated in national agility competitions with her four dogs, taking home multiple titles. Creswell has also opened her home up to dozens of rescue dogs, fostering over 75 in the past nine years, according to DogWorks.

Elisha McCallum took over Creswell’s dog training class when she learned about the fire, and says her friend is devastated.

“She rushed home to save them,” McCallum said, adding that she has boarded her own dogs with Creswell for the past 15 years.

"There is no one I trust more than my family than her with my dogs,” she said.

The fire is not considered suspicious but the cause is still under investigation. The BC SPCA called the fire a "tragic situation."