Douglas A. Moser
After a house fire was extinguished on Eastern Avenue in 2004 and firefighters determined no one was in danger, fire Chief Barry McKay found the paramedics assisting several smaller patients.
“I looked at the ambulance, and the back doors were open and that’s where the paramedics were,” McKay said. “They were giving oxygen to the cats. Some of the cats made it, some didn’t.”
At the time, the paramedics used masks designed for humans to give oxygen to the animals. Thanks to a donation from an area business, and the wallet of a firefighter, the Fire Department is now equipped with two sets of oxygen masks specifically designed for pets. Each set has three sizes to accommodate a range of animals.
McKay, a self-proclaimed dog- and cat-lover, said finding and saving human victims at fire scenes is rescuers’ first and foremost priority, but once the people are taken care of, paramedics can help out the dogs and cats with oxygen, which is treatment for smoke inhalation.
“It happens quite a bit,” McKay said of finding animals at fires.
About 10 firefighters gathered for a
15-minute demonstration earlier this week, conducted by Kim Rand and Frank Landry, both of the Wakefield office of Best Friends Pet Care, a grooming, boarding and training business with another office in Boxford.
Firefighter Stephanie Eaton paid for one set of masks, which cost $55, and Best Friends Pet Care donated the other. Eaton also donated the use of Ruby, her 115-pound Rottweiler, to demonstrate how to put the mask on: An inch or two on the snout, enough to cover the nose, but not necessarily the full way up to the eyes.
The plastic masks, which can be reused after being sanitized, have a rubber ring to seal around the animal’s nose and a plastic tube that connects to the department’s standard oxygen tanks. They fit on dogs and cats, which are the most common pets, but can also be used on other pets, such as ferrets, gerbils and certain reptiles.
Standard masks used for people are not reused, McKay said.
Rand said the pet center, which has offices around the country, donates masks to neighboring towns. The company’s Boxford office gave masks to Peabody and Danvers in June.
“If I were in that situation (where my home burned), I would want them to help the dogs if they could,” Eaton said. Besides Ruby, she has a chocolate Labrador-beagle mix named Emma — “She’s like a big, fat Tootsie Roll,” Eaton said — and a cat named Bailey.
McKay said the masks could possibly be kept on one ladder truck and one pumper truck, to make sure they are available at all fires, but the decision is not final.
Along with Danvers and Peabody, a number of other fire departments around the country are adding pet oxygen masks to their equipment stock.
“If it can help a tragedy be a little less horrible, it’s worth it,” Eaton said. “In a lot of cases, they want the dog more than they want the couch.”
There are 2,081 registered dogs in Gloucester, according to the city clerk’s office, though many households have pets that do not require registration, such as cats or ferrets.
Recently, a cat died in a May 28 fire on Witham Street, though fire officials said that at the time many other cats survived.
