By Tara Sullivan
The Houston Chronicle
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — While The Woodlands Fire Department is in the business of saving lives of residents, its crews are also ready to help four-legged friends in the community.
The department now carries animal oxygen masks on nearly every truck. The masks have made a difference in the life and death of family pets, said Lt. Doug Adams of The Woodlands Fire Department.
“The type of materials that burn in a home fire create many different smoke inhalation dangers,” Adams said. “It’s a 50/50 chance that animals will make it through all that.”
On the night of June 18, a terrified Yorkshire terrier puppy looked up timidly at rescuers from a closet corner in her burning home. Suddenly standing before the animal, Adams was not at all surprised when the frightened pup put up a fight.
She scurried around the closet, attempting to bury herself in a nearby pile of shoes as smoke poured into her hiding place and a fully-suited firefighter reached toward her.
“Animals are typically scared when you find them in a fire, cats will scratch at you and dogs will nip at you,” he said. “You try to talk to them, to calm them down, but with all that’s going on they just don’t understand. We do look pretty scary with the suit and mask. They try to run or put up a fight, but luckily, this was a little, tiny Yorkie.”
Rescuers held on to the frantic puppy as they strode toward the front of the house through a maze of smoke, soot and smoldering furniture.
The puppy’s home, located at 46 E. Misty Breeze Circle inThe Woodlands, would continue to burn for an hour, sustaining $20,000 of structural damage before firefighters regained control.
The puppy was the last family member to make it out of the blaze, though her battle wasn’t over. While paramedics attended to her owners, a neighbor helped firefighters calm the puppy as oxygen was administered.
Adams said cyanide and carbon monoxide are the most typical poisoning agents inhaled in fire fumes, and they quickly infiltrate the blood stream. Returning blood-oxygen levels to normal is in most instances the only cure, making quick administration of oxygen an important factor in victim recovery.
Saving lives of pets
The puppy has since recovered and has been reunited with her family, all of whom made it out of the fire. She now joins a growing list of pets that have recovered from house fires in The Woodlands, many of whom owe their survival to the animal oxygen masks carried by the fire department as standard rescue equipment.
More than 63 percent of American homes have pets, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, making pet fire victim searches increasingly common. And as pets are more often considered members of the family, first-responders and animal welfare agencies have been teaming up to increase their chances of survival after disasters.
Program beginnings
It was in 2005 that Best Friends Veterinary Hospital in Spring, operated by the nationwide kennel company Best Friends Pet Care Inc., contacted The Woodlands Fire Department. They were offering a donation of animal-sized oxygen masks, which The Woodlands Fire Department gladly accepted.
After a local fund raising effort, Best Friends donated mask sets to suit nearly every vehicle in the department.
Around the country, Best Friends Pet Care Inc. has donated more than 2,500 of these masks to first responders.
The push to distribute animal-sized oxygen mask sets began in 2004, after employees of a New Jersey Best Friends facility learned of the frustrations of firefighters who had been unable to save animal fire victims. They simply could not adequately administer oxygen with masks designed for humans.
Best Friends held a fund raiser and donated 15 animal oxygen mask sets to the North Plainfield, N.J. Fire Department.
Nationwide effort
The effort was so successful that the organization launched a nationwide initiative, “Cause for Paws,” seeking to equip all first-responders with animal oxygen masks. The initiative operates through Best Friends facilities, where donations are collected to benefit fire departments within 30 miles of each site. Best Friends matches all funds collected.
The mask sets cost $55 each, which include three sizes – small and large canine, and feline. The masks have successfully been used on dogs, cats, ferrets and other pets. They are distributed by SurgiVet, and are the same masks carried by NASA firefighters.
Susan Adam, manager of Best Friends’ Spring location, was thrilled to learn that a local pet had already been saved this summer.
“You can use people masks on pets, but these get more oxygen to the animals,” she said. “I’m so glad to hear that the masks saved a life.”
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