Firefighters battle four-alarm pet store blaze

NEWS 9

Employees of an Oklahoma City wholesale pet store said they're grateful not all of their animals were destroyed by a four-alarm fire on Friday.

Oklahoma City firefighters battled the fire at Quality Pet Store, 1501 S. Agnew, for about three hours. The store primarily sells fish, reptiles, birds and small animals.

"I was wanting to run back in so bad and at least grab what I could, but they wouldn't let me back in," Owner Eddie Mantooth said. "We had baby birds they didn't even have their feathers all the way. We were bottle feeding them and they are gone."

 Employees like Carl Sandefer said it was hard to helplessly watch as the fire swept through the building that housed the animals they cared for every day. A firewall stopped the flames from spreading to some areas of the building, allowing some animals to crawl away unscathed. 

"There is someone upstairs watching us and didn't let the animals suffer because it could have been way worse," Sandefer said.

There were no human injuries reported. Investigators still are trying to determine what started the fire.