Firefighters receive animal oxygen masks

By Becca Nelson Sankey in The San Angelo Standard-Times
Firefighters are in the business of saving human lives, and now they are better equipped to save animal lives, too. The Humane Society of Tom Green County on Tuesday presented 15 animal oxygen masks to the San Angelo Fire Department, providing tools essential to helping them save the lives of animals they rescue from fires.

“Animals are much more sensitive to smoke inhalation,” said Jenie Wilson, Humane Society executive director. “So it takes about half what it takes a human to be fatal.“The firemen here will go the extra mile to save a pet, but they will do so with Humane Society equipment, so we wanted to provide them all the tools they need to continue doing what they do.”

“They’ve given us enough (masks) to put on every front-line ambulance we have, and when we go to a fire, one of those ambulances will be dispatched,” said Brian Dunn, San Angelo fire chief.

Each of the five first-response vehicles will be equipped with a large, medium and small mask, according to a Humane Society news release. The small masks are suitable for use on cats and toy breed dogs.

More than 40,000 pets die each year from smoke inhalation, according to the release. It is unclear how many pets die in San Angelo fires.

“I would think you’d have a few die a year,” Dunn said. “A lot of people have pets, their house catches on fire and they’re at work. Animals tend to hide. … They may crawl under a bed, and it makes them more difficult to find.”

Made specifically for animals, the Bark 10-4 masks will help pets once EMS personnel remove them from the burning structure.

“If we find a pet, we’ll get them out of there and then put (the mask) on outside because we’re going to have to hook them up to oxygen,” Dunn said.

The problem with using an oxygen mask designed for humans is that it doesn’t seal properly around an animal’s snout, Wilson said. The 10-4 masks, however, go over the snout.

Fifteen masks with a total value of $500 were given to the city fire department thanks to donors’ help, Wilson said.

“We announced in late October that we really wanted to provide our fire department with these masks,” she said. “We contacted these donors, and they stepped up and made this possible. The funds raised were specifically for this.”

Raising the funds was a huge investment for the nonprofit organization, Wilson said, but “definitely worth it.”

“The Humane Society is experiencing some great growth,” she added. “We’re wanting to expand our community support. Rescue’s not just about rescuing from the shelter — it may be fires, puppy mills.”

And having masks such as these will boost firefighter’s confidence, said Wendy Brooks, Humane Society adoption coordinator.

“It’s a tool, and every tool that makes a job easier is valuable,” she said.