Storage fire consumes nonprofit animal rescue’s supplies in Arapahoe County

AURORA, Colo. ( KDVR ) — Fire investigators are working to determine what sparked a fire at a self-storage facility on South Parker Road in Arapahoe County on Sunday .

The fire happened Sunday around 7:30 p.m., leaving dozens of units damaged by flames, smoke and water.

Trevor’s Animal Rescue, a small, family-run nonprofit, stored their supplies at the facility. Organizers told FOX31 they work to rescue animals from euthanasia from Pueblo to Longmont.

“My mom was telling me that she and my dad were sitting down and she said ‘I hope that’s not our storage unit,'” Sio Power said.

Sio and his mother, Stephanie Power, watched fire crews on the news battle the blaze at the Public Storage in Aurora.

“Then in the morning it turned out that, yes, it was in fact our storage unit,” Sio said.

When they arrived Monday morning, they saw the sign on the key entry pad.

“Due to the unfortunate circumstances, this property will be closed until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience,” the sign stated.

“Ours was completely destroyed,” Sio said.

Officials said 32 units were directly impacted by the fire, which traveled through the attic of the building. About 48 units were damaged by smoke and water.

“The main items we use are these large dog metal wire crates that are used for our fosters. Dog beds, leashes, collars, scratch towers for cats, puppy pads, all sorts of supplies we can give to our fosters before they are adopted,” Sio said.

The nonprofit has been running for six years. They have stored their supplies at the storage facility for three years, and in a matter of minutes, they lost everything.

Stephanie told FOX31 the first thing that went through her mind.

“It was how are we going to keep going? Because we’re a nonprofit a 501(c)(3), so we don’t have funds just lying around,” Stephanie said. “So it was how were we going to go on, how are we going to replace everything?”

The animal rescue said they facilitated 76 adoptions of cats and dogs last month and hope their work doesn’t have to stop.

“Without supplies, we can’t save dogs or cats from all the euthanasia shelters we work with,” Stephanie said.

Once the fire investigation wraps up, customers will be able to look at the damage firsthand. The Powers have set up a GoFundMe to help resupply their nonprofit.

The Powers have coordinated some donation drop-off sites for tangible donations, beginning Tuesday. All locations are shared on the Trevor’s Animal Rescue Facebook page.

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