FORT WHITE, Fla. — Twelve dogs are dead after an air conditioning outage at Nicole's Natural Dog Training in Columbia County, Florida, Sunday afternoon.
Business owner Nicole Wirth posted an emotional video to her Facebook Monday about the incident. Through tears, Wirth said that the dogs died in a "horrific tragedy" after a power surge caused her air conditioning to fail.
According to Wirth, fire rescue personnel were able to help some dogs that needed emergency care -- but some did not make it.
According to First Coast News Chief Meteorologist Tim Deegan, the heat index was in the 100s for hours Sunday.
"Most of you have heard about the horrific tragedy that occurred at my facility yesterday (Sunday) afternoon when an unforeseen power surge caused my AC to fail in my boarding kennel resulting in the loss of 12 souls,” Wirth said in the video. She said the police were called and there is a police report. “I was alone and terrified,” she continued adding that the local fire department responded to the kennel, and “they were able to intubate and save as many pets as possible."
She listed the dogs who died by name and breed in her video. One was a brand new puppy, another in training and almost ready to be adopted, and another a client of nine years.
"There is nothing that can be said or done to change any of this. But rest assured, even if I am late addressing the public, the affected owners and their families and their pets have been my utmost concern," she said.
In a video posted Sunday, Wirth was on a jet ski with a dog, captioned "A Lil Mommy & Ma'am Time," which she deleted Monday afternoon.
First Coast News has reached out to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office and we are waiting to hear back.
