An ambulance is seen from the street outside Superior Kennels in Arundel on Wednesday morning. A large fire destroyed the dog-breeding facility late Tuesday night. ALAN BENNETT/Journal Tribune
Multiple agencies responded to a large fire at Superior Kennels at 2 Irving Road in Arundel around 10:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Arundel Fire and Rescue Dep. Chief Renald Tardif said by phone Wednesday afternoon that crews from Arundel and eight surrounding departments responded to the fire, which was “fully involved” upon their arrival.
Crews from Biddeford, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Goodwins Mills, Alfred, Wells, Hollis and Saco also responded to the blaze, Tardif said. First responders were forced to rely mostly on tanker trucks, he said, due to a lack of available water sources near the kennel.
Tardif said he believes there were fewer than 50 dogs inside the kennel at the time of the fire, and that they were all believed to have been rescued before flames brought the structure to the ground.
It was unclear Wednesday morning if any dogs had perished in the fire, and fire officials declined to comment on the matter until later in the day.
Tardif said the blaze was extinguished around 3 a.m., although emergency crews stayed through the night to monitor for “hot spots” and to wait for investigators with State Fire Marshal’s Office. Arundel firefighters returned to their station around 1 p.m. Wednesday, he said, after the scene was cleared.
A fuel tank in the structure tipped over turning the blaze, worsening matters, although investigation reveals the cause of the fire is undetermined, Tardif said.
“It was burned so badly they couldn’t pinpoint (the cause),” he said. “It was like a ball of fire,” he said.
Fire crews, along with emergency medical services, could be seen outside the kennel — located at 2 Irving Road, at the corner of Irving and Brimstone roads, early Wednesday morning. The business is located behind Dubois Motors on that road, in a rural area of town.
According to the kennel’s website, Superior Kennels is a “highly recommended and state licensed breeding kennel,” offering small breed dogs with a one-year health guarantee.
This is the second notable fire at the facility, located just down the road from Dutch Elm Golf Course, in less than a decade.
A blaze in April 2009 brought down or severely damaged one or two dog kennel buildings at the facility. That fire, believed to have been started from sparks from a wood stove that ignited leafy debris, killed between six or eight dogs.
On its website, Superior Kennels says its mission is to, “provide people with a happy, healthy dog which will become a member of their family,” but its online reviews haven’t always been positive, with some users saying their dogs died within weeks of adoption, and others claiming dogs from the kennel have skin or eye infections.
A property owner did not allow members of the press to enter the scene Wednesday morning, and the kennel’s owner could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com.
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