Fire damages Camp Bow Wow weeks before opening
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » A fire Monday night heavily damaged a dog day care business just weeks before its opening.
Black smoke from the fire at Campo Bow Wow, 1739 Route 9, could be seen by many motorists traveling through the heavily-used Exit 9 area in the early evening of July 31.
Clifton Park-Halfmoon Volunteer Fire Department chief Art Hunsinger said the emergency call came in at 7:08 p.m. The fire department station is about a quarter of a mile away on Fire Road.
“When our assistant chief Ben Cuttita arrived on the scene there was heavy smoke showing,” Hunsinger said. “Almost immediately fire broke through the roof. The fact that there was a lot of smoke and no fire says it had been going on a while.”
Hunsinger said approximately 50 firefighters from his department and six others fought the fire until it was brought under control at 8 p.m. He was hesitant to say how much damage had been done to the building. The investigation into the cause is now underway.
On Tuesday, it was noticeable that the roof of the old Giffy’s building had collapsed and the main section that was left standing was the front wall with its rustic look. The red CAMP BOW WOW sign near the roof line was missing its “P”.
Several white State Fire vehicles, a red Saratoga County Fire Investigation truck and two vehicles from the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Fire Department were in the parking lot on Tuesday.
Joseph Griffin, a neighboring business owner
at Clifton Park Citgo on Route 9 said he wasn’t at work when the fire started but recalled that it wasn’t the first fire at that spot.
“Before it was Giffy’s Bar-B-Q it was Grogan’s Flowers and that business burned down too,” he said. “That’s when Randy Gifford went in there. Not that’s there’s any connection between the two fires. It’s just interesting.”
The structure and its 1.4 acres of land were purchased by Matthew Beck of Ballston Spa on March 14 from Randy Gifford, the owner of Giffy’s. The application to operate the business was approved March 21 by the town Planning Board.
Site plans show that in addition to 3,826-squarefoot building that was the restaurant, Beck had added a 3,235-square-foot addition for a kennel and an outdoor area to the east of that structure.
According to a narrative submitted to the town Planning Department the business offered a day camp for dogs Monday to Saturday as well as overnight boarding, training, grooming and retail pet supplies. Staff was to be on site from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The plans said those dogs that were boarding there were to be housed in individual secured cabins overnight. Video cameras were to be available to the public during open hours and were to be operable 24 hours per day and accessible via web site and smart phone. The building was to be climate controlled.
Assisting the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Fire Department at the scene were firefighters from the Jonesville, West Crescent, Vischer Ferry, Halfmoon Waterford, Hillcrest, and Boght volunteer fire departments. Other fire departments remained on standby in case of further emergencies.