Best Friends Donates Kennels for Fire Dogs Left Homeless by San Diego Wildfires

When Troy Morrison's Jamul home was threatened by the wildfires this fall, his first concern was the safety of his family. Like many others in his area, he loaded his wife, three children and five dogs into the family trailer and headed to safety. The family lost their home and all their belongings.

What makes this story different is that Morrison is a volunteer firefighter and arson investigator and three of his dogs work with him in arson detection and fire prevention:

• Smokey is a black Lab certified for arson detection, who his own website at www.arsonk9.com;
• Flame, a Lab-Beagle mix, is an arson dog in training; and
• Ahren, a Dalmatian works with Morrison in fire education programs in local schools. His "stop, drop and roll" and "crawl low" routines help kids learn and remember what to do in case of a fire.

Unfortunately, the dogs haven't been able to stay with the family at their hotel in Cleary Mesa. Immediately following the fire, they spent two days in cramped quarters in the family's trailer, but since then have moved from place to place. Morrison even tried to rebuild the old burned-out kenneling on his property in Jamul so the dogs would have a place to stay.

Thanks to Best Friends San Diego Pet Care center, the dogs now have new housing: Best Friends has donated three large dog kennels (each is 6 feet wide by 10 feet long) equipped with canopies to the Morrison family for their Jamul property.

"These dogs are true canine heroes," says JoAnn Ford, Best Friends San Diego manager. "As soon as we heard Troy's story, we knew we had to step in and help."

Morrison is eager to return to his property in Jamul. He is working to repair his well and to restore power to the site so the entire family can return home - the dogs in their new kennels, the family in their trailer -- in time for the holidays. In addition to the three working dogs, the Morrison family's canine members include Morgan, a retired hearing dog, and Roxie, the family pet. All five of dogs were rescued from animal shelters.