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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A power outage at the Vola Lawson Animal Shelter on one of the hottest days of the year sent staff and volunteers scrambling over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, temporarily relocating nearly 50 animals to emergency foster homes within hours.
The outage, which struck the morning of July 3, knocked out both power and air conditioning at the city-owned shelter at 4101 Eisenhower Ave., operated by the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria under a contract with the city. Temperatures that day exceeded 100 degrees.
"We have lost power to the building before, and we've struggled with the HVAC units in the past — just never on a day when it's over 100 degrees," said Erin Shackelford, AWLA's senior manager of communications and event marketing.
The shelter has a large generator on the property, but it was only able to restore some of the lights — not the air conditioning. A city representative arrived quickly and began working to reroute generator power to one of the AC units, though staff remained uncertain whether the unit would restart immediately without additional intervention.
With animals' safety at risk heading into a holiday weekend heatwave, AWLA leadership made the call to evacuate as many animals as possible, putting out an emergency call to existing fosters, volunteers and staff. Local dog boarding facility Frolick Dogs also stepped up, offering its facility as emergency boarding if needed.
The response was immediate. Within hours, nearly 50 animals had been placed in temporary foster homes, with staff coordinating pickups, conducting dog meet-and-greets and preparing foster supplies including food, crates and litter pans — all while, as the shelter noted on social media, "sweating their behinds off."
The shelter closed to the public July 3 and July 4. By the morning of July 5, power and AC had been restored and animals were returning from their fosters. AWLA reopened that day from noon to 5 p.m.
"It was amazing how quickly and smoothly the process went," Shackelford said. "We also want to thank everyone who stepped up in our moment of need and fostered an animal over the July 4th holiday."
The cause of the outage has not been officially confirmed, but Shackelford said a staff member heard a loud boom outside at the time of the outage, suggesting a transformer may have been involved. The outage was not isolated to the shelter — other businesses and homes in the surrounding area were also affected.
For context, the city replaced the shelter's HVAC units in summer 2024 following reliability issues, which Shackelford said had made the systems significantly more dependable — until this weekend.
For animal-related emergencies, contact AWLA at 703-746-4444 or visit AlexandriaAnimals.org.
