'Queenie Was Great': Owner Of Vans Exclusive Auto Mourns Loss Of Dog Who Died In 4-Alarm Fire In Frankford
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Firefighters continued to put out hot spots on Sunday after a devastating fire devoured an auto body shop in Frankford. The four-alarm fire broke out at Vans Exclusive Auto.
"He screamed and said, 'Smoke in the back.' I went to take a look and I asked, 'Please pass the fire extinguisher,' it popped," an employee said.
Emotional workers at Vans Exclusive Auto Shop in Frankford described the frightening moments the business went up in flames on Saturday night.
"Once he heard a bang, they ran out and we all ran outside, myself went back in to save the dog," another employee said.
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Unfortunately the dog, named Queenie, perished in the flames.
The four-alarm fire started around 9:15 p.m. on the 4200 block of Adams Avenue before workers had a chance to close.
The bright orange glow continued to grow and spread to at least two neighboring businesses and a storage unit.
As daylight broke on Sunday, crews continued to work on hot spots as business owners assessed their losses.
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One loss is especially hard to bare for the auto shop's owner, as he returned to the shop to see if he could retrieve his family's pet from the rubble.
"Queenie was great," Varien Harris, the auto body shop's owner, said. "My brother was terrified of dogs since he was a little boy. That's the only dog I've known by brother to play with,."
But, he is still thankful.
"Nobody got hurt and that's why I can talk about everything else," Harris said.
Investigators say the cause of the fire was electrical.
Harris says his landlord was in the process of replacing the electrical sockets, where workers first saw sparks fly.
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"It had to be the new ones because he disconnected the electricity from the old ones," Harris said.
Several residents did not have power on Sunday morning during the firefight, but they are glad their homes were not affected.
"We didn't want our house to catch fire because it's right down the block," one neighbor said.
CBS3's Crystal Cranmore reports.
