Knowing what to do in case of an emergency like a house fire is important, but when you’re a pet parent you have other beings to think about, too.
After all, you’ll want to protect your pet yourself or get the emergency services to rescue them, even if you don’t have time to grab any of their favorite toys as you leave.
The Dublin Fire Brigade in Ireland has been praised online for rescuing a cat, Biscuit, from the city’s suburb of Ballyfermot, and giving him a mini oxygen mask to help save his life after he was unconscious.
On January 29, the fire brigade explained on X (formerly Twitter) that a firefighter-paramedic was responsible for applying the mask, and that just 10 minutes later Biscuit was “snuggling” into his owner. The crew also rescued a dog and a budgie, but neither required additional oxygen.
Firefighters from Dolphins Barn rescued Biscuit from a house fire in Ballyfermot yesterday evening. The cat was located by a BA crew and was unconscious. Firefighter "Paw"amedic Carrick placed a pet oxygen mask on Biscuit and after 10 minutes, Biscuit was snuggling into it's… pic.twitter.com/6ciZqmSPRTJanuary 29, 2025
“We are trialling pet oxygen masks, which are on nine fire appliances, in two districts,” the brigade added in the post, which has since gone viral online. “We are working with Village Vets to introduce them across the city.”
In an Instagram post, Village Vets added: “We’re so proud to be working with Dublin Fire Brigade to roll out these pet oxygen masks – pets, like people, can suffer from smoke inhalation, and immediate oxygen therapy can mean the difference between life and death.
“Standard human masks don’t fit properly on animals, so having the right equipment on hand is critical in those first few minutes.”
Hopefully, you’ll never have to be in a situation where you need to protect your pets in the event of a fire, but it’s best to be aware of what you can do to help keep them safe. There are lots of simple things we can do, from ensuring our pets are wearing collars so they’re identifiable to providing them with escape routes if we can – a pet door is ideal.
It’s also important to ensure you have working smoke detectors, for the safety of humans and animals alike, and monitored detectors (like this one on Amazon) are even better, so if your pets are home alone you’ll be alerted. Meanwhile, window stickers (like these ones) alerting firefighters to the type and number of pets at home can be helpful, too, so they’ll know to look for pets as well as humans.
Another option may be to sign up for a pet first-aid class. These classes can teach you how to give your pet mouth-to-mouth resuscitation safely, plus other skills such as what to do if a dog is choking. Again, it’s ideally something we’d never need to put into practice, but it’s best to know, just in case.
It’s no secret that a lot of pets, as well as wild animals, have been affected by the devastating California wildfires in recent weeks, too. If you’d like to get involved in some way, be it donating, buying food from a wishlist, or even fostering or adopting if you’re local, here’s how you can help animals affected by the LA fires.
