Devastating fire leaves animal rescue a total loss in West Olive
WEST OLIVE — When Marty Hoewe and her husband Fred awoke in the early morning hours on Saturday, Nov. 5, neither knew what was happening.
Fred said he heard a sound like someone pounding on the windows, while a friend working in the couple’s barn described a sound similar to fireworks.
More:Locals rush to save animals during blazing barn fire at Nelis' Dutch Village
The sound was the first sign of an electrical fire on the front porch of the couple's home in West Olive. The fire ultimately spread to the rest of the house.
“They're considering it a total loss from at least the foundation up, so the whole structure is gone,” Hoewe said. “If the foundation is OK, we can rebuild right on the foundation — but if not, we just build from the ground up.”
It's not just about the house. The house was home to Phaedra and Phriends, an animal rescue service for disabled and special needs pets — animals described as “specially-abled” by Hoewe.
“Our animal sanctuary was in the house itself,” she said. “We had seven animals in our sanctuary room in the basement — four of them were totally blind — we had a three-legged one, two with brain disorders, as well as two foster kittens and four more cats that were our housemates.”
The couple lost them all.
They also lost two cats on the second level, plus the couple's two dogs and three cats — one of which was Hoewe’s emotional support animal.
The couple is currently living in a hotel. They've been told it'll be between 12 and 18 months before they can return home. They've spent their days searching through the rubble, trying to find the remains of the many animals they knew and loved.
They've also lost Hoewe's mother’s wedding rings, her father’s dog tags, a dog collar from her deceased brother’s dog, and the cross given to her husband when he did his first communion — all gone in a matter of minutes.
“Those are things that are very important to us,” Hoewe said. “My husband is actually legally blind and uses glasses with telescopic lenses that are $15,000 a piece and we lost two pairs of those.”
News of the fire spread quickly and two GoFundMe pages have been organized to help. Hoewe said there’s no doubt they'll rebuild and continue the work they've done since 2012, when they started in a Holland mobile home community.
“We’ve had a lot of help since the fire,” Hoewe said.
One friend came by the morning after to help collect remains, while another placed them in carriers.
“I was able to physically lay my hands on each one of them for reassurance and to sort of let each one know that I was there,” Hoewe said.
“We will rise again. We aren't going to stop what we're doing because it’s important.”
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The first GoFundMe quickly reached its goal of $5,000. The second is available at gofund.me/595d0289.
Hoewe said the couple is forever grateful to those who have stepped up to help.
“I just need to say thank you because the community has been amazing,” she said. “I always thought we were kind of the bottom of the barrel in the rescue world and, with my brother passing away in February, I felt alone in the world other than my husband.
"All of a sudden, everyone has shown up and I’ve realized we weren’t so small and bottom of the barrel after all.”
— Austin Metz is a former Holland Sentinel reporter.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Devastating fire leaves animal rescue a total loss in West Olive
