Cork fire crews hailed 'heroes' after using canine rescue kit to save dog's life

Fire crews responded to a call to a house fire in the Ballincollig area of Cork city and it was quickly realised that a dog was trapped inside the burning building

Cork City Fire Brigade crews used a special canine resuscitation kit to save a dog's life after being trapped in house fire. Picture: Gerard Ryan/Cork City Fire Brigade.

Cork City Fire Brigade crews have been hailed as “heroes” after rescuing a dog from a house fire at the weekend.

Fire crews responded to a call to a house fire in the Ballincollig area of Cork city shortly after 2am on Saturday and it was quickly realised that the owner of the home’s dog was still inside the burning building.

The owner of the home and another person who was staying at the home both escaped the fire which was well-developed when fire crews arrived at the scene, but the dog was still trapped inside.

The third officer of Cork City Fire Brigade Gerard Ryan said the owner of the home was very concerned for his dog and had made multiple attempts to save the dog before fire crews arrived.

“The person himself was showing signs of distress from smoke inhalation - the early stages of smoke inhalation - because he tried to rescue his dog two or three times but was beaten back by the smoke, heat and flames in the back of the house,” he said.

Fire crews entered the house to extinguish the fire and their next priority was to save the dog.

“We found the dog in the back of the house. The dog was in distress. There was a lot of black mucus coming from the dog’s mouth,” Mr Ryan said.

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Using one of their special canine resuscitation kits, crews put the dog on oxygen for 10 minutes and saved his life.

“About two years ago, a canine lover donated these units to us free of charge and so we use them all the time and we have one in each of the pumps,” Mr Ryan said.

“There’s a special fitting - the mask is designed specifically for the long snout of a dog and we use the same oxygen that we do for humans. It can be used for any type of animal really, we’ve used it for everything from a dog to a cat.” 

Mr Ryan said the dog was also given a good massage and crews washed out the dog’s mouth.

“We got the dog back,” he said.

“It was a good outcome for everyone. The gentleman was taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and the other person staying with him in the house looked after the dog.

“It’s a good news story. Unfortunately, the house was damaged by the fire but the good news is that the dog was saved and there was no loss of life.” 

Posting about the outcome on social media, Cork City Fire Brigade were met with comments commending crews for going “above and beyond as always” and describing them as “heroes”.

“I'm not crying, you are. Well done lads! Above and beyond as always,” one social media user wrote.

“Oh the poor doggy. Thanks for looking after them! I'd be heartbroken if anything happened to my pets, they are family,” another wrote.

Other users who were unaware that the fire crews at Anglesea Street carried canine resuscitation kits were extremely impressed.

“Wait.. you have canine resuscitation kits? That's amazing,” one user wrote.

“Who knew youse have canine rescue kits. #Bravo,” another wrote.