SPENCER — The night of July 5 was a bad one in Spencer. A fire in the 100 block of Long Ferry Road left a town resident dead, along with his two dogs. But it proved to be an opportunity for local emergency services to show unparalleled compassion.

Deborah Horne of the Rowan County Fire Marshal’s Office spoke about the fire at Tuesday night’s town Board of Aldermen meeting.

Jason Klawitter, who lived at 109 Long Ferry Road, was relatively new to the area, having moved to Spencer from Buffalo, New York. He worked at R&L Carriers and had two boxers, Baron and Gunner, that Horne said he loved like his own children. When his house caught fire July 5, Klawitter perished while trying to rescue them.

“Everything humanely possible was done to try to save him. But that was not to be,” Horne told the board.

Despite the tragedy, kindness grew.

The bodies of Klawitter and his dogs were removed from the house while firefighters fought the blaze.

“We look at policemen and firemen as tough guys,” she said. “But I’m gonna say right now that Chief James and his officers, Chief Grubb and his officers, I just can’t tell you how much compassion they showed.”

Horne said that when she arrived, two Spencer police officers were standing guard by Klawitter’s body. Horne said it was something she and other fire marshals “don’t see every day.”

When Klawitter’s mother, Catherine Wilhelm, traveled from Florida the following Sunday, the compassion continued. Spencer Police Chief Mike James handed over several items salvaged from the fire that he thought she might want as keepsakes. Town employees and the Fire Marshals Office helped her close out Klawitter’s post office box, speak to his employer and arrange his cremation.

“Everything just went incredibly well for what it was,” Horne said.

James also escorted Wilhelm to Klawitter’s residence, where she was met by Spencer firefighters and police officers who had responded to the fire that night. Many of them, Horne said, were off duty.

“She just broke down,” Horne recalled. “She said that meant more to her than we would ever know.”

They also helped her go through boxes of salvaged belongings. Spencer police officers dug through the burned remains of the house to find keys to Klawitter’s car.

“This is something that’s not expected. And this is something that I feel like is not part of their daily duties — but in their hearts, they felt like that’s what they needed to do,” Horne said.

When Wilhelm prepared to leave, Horne went to the Sugar Fairy on South Salisbury Avenue to buy some snacks for the family for the drive back to Florida. When told what it was for, the owner refused to accept any payment.

“This is all happening in the town of Spencer,” Horne said. “And in 22 years, I have worked close to 50 fatal fires. … I have never seen a town do what they did for a stranger, for what they did for Mrs. Wilhelm.”

Horne said she has kept in touch with Wilhelm since then, and she read aloud a thank-you note.

“Thank you so much for your help and kindness when it was needed most,” Wilhelm wrote. “The town just opened their hearts to us. It is much appreciated. I miss him every day.”

But it hasn’t stopped there. Inspired by Klawitter’s love for his boxers and by Spencer’s compassion, friends of Klawitter in Buffalo started a GoFund Me campaign to raise money for pet oxygen masks.

“These specially designed animal masks can be used both on conscious pets that have suffered from smoke inhalation and pets that need to be resuscitated after losing consciousness from exposure to the dangerous toxic fumes,” the campaign explanation says.

The group hopes to raise $5,000. As of Thursday, it had raised $6,406.

According to the page, half of the funds will be given to a local boxer charity to purchase masks, with instructions that they be donated to the Spencer Fire Department and local EMS. The remainder will go to fire and EMS departments in the Buffalo area.

Contact reporter Rebecca Rider at 704-797-4264.