For juniors Spencer and Rhiannon Emerson, Pet World has always been a part of their family.

Their parents, Sherry and Tim Emerson, have owned Pet World for 27 years and the pet store filled with birds, snakes, bunnies and fish, was an important part of their lives. Although the family spends much of their time at the shop, it was on the rare occasion they weren’t there that their life went up in smoke.

“The store has just been such a big part of my life and when it caught fire it just changed my life drastically,” Spencer said.

On May 25, Memorial Day, the Emersons were hosting their annual 5K in Jefferson County at a property the family owns.

“Every employee from Pet World was out there that day,” Spencer said.

The Emersons and the Pet World employees began receiving calls from friends and family informing them of the fire. After rushing to the store the family saw their business consumed by black smoke and flames.

“We kept getting calls and stuff saying that ‘Pet World’s on fire, Pet World’s on fire,’” Spencer said. “It really didn’t hit me…until a few days after when I was like, ‘I’m going to go to Pet World — oh.’ Like, I can’t. That’s when it hit me the hardest.”

The fire started after noon with an electrical shortage in the store’s back, Sherry Emerson explained on the Pet World website. The flames and smoke spread quickly. The store was charred black with smoke lines covering the walls and ceilings, she wrote.

“There were a bunch of melted things because of how hot the flames got,” Rhiannon said.

What the family most worried about was the animals. Sherry Emerson said breeder snakes in the back room were the only animals that died in the actual fire. Other animals, such as a kitten named Mindy and the store bird, Fletcher, perished because of smoke and fumes.

Some animals did survive the fire. Many reptiles survived and the tortoises, which were already at a different location for the summer did, too.

“They couldn’t really do anything to help themselves which was the worst part,” Spencer said.
Spencer and Rhiannon have worked at their parents’ shop for the past two summers, and this one was no different. But instead of helping at the kids camps, Rhiannon cleaned up rubble from the fire and nursed animals injured by the smoke.

The tragedy affected the family’s summer in other ways, Rhiannon said.

“It was a loss so there wasn’t as many smiles, that’s for sure,” she said. “The mood around the house changed.”

The family did, however, receive support from the Lawrence community to begin rebuilding.

“We’ve had a lot, a lot of support, like it’s unbelievable amounts of support and people stepping up to help out with whatever they can,” Spencer said.

The Emersons opened Pet World again at a temporary location at 23rd and Louisiana, next to Lawrence Laundromat and Bikram Yoga. It’s just across the parking lot from the previous location, which they hope to return to.

The temporary location is smaller with fewer animals. The family is taking extra precaution to make sure both stores are safer than ever.

“The new store is a smaller building, we just have mainly supplies and stuff,” Spencer said. “We only have a few animals. But it’s good to be back in and finding the groove of things again.”

The old location is being cleaned of the smoke lines and debris and will undergo structural changes to fix design flaws and increase fire safety.

“We plan on just building it back up, not exactly the same because we had design flaws in our last building that we would like to change but just never got around to it,” Spencer said.

Spencer said the family is happy to be back in business and excited for the future.

“We’re coming back,” he said.