KENDALL COUNTY, Texas — First responders in Boerne are being praised after saving a family’s pets from a house fire last month.
It’s a day that Deputy Steven Vaughan vividly remembers.
“We received a dispatch call of a structure fire. I responded, arrived on scene and realized that the house was fully engulfed in flames,” he said.
Everyone in the home, located on Hilltop Drive in Boerne, was able to escape without injury, but some of the families were worried about their dogs.
Vaughn said a woman came running out with a dog in her arms.
"She's like, 'my dog is blind, he won't move.'"
A home next to the one that was on fire and the family was also worried that there might be another dog trapped in a kennel.
“All of a sudden this little dog comes running out and this fireman hands me this little dog. It's cold, it's wet, and it has third-degree burns on its backside,” he said.
The two dogs - named Chester and Mary - were then sent to a paramedic to be checked.
“At that point, they tell me they have these masks available just for dogs,” Vaughan said.
Paramedic Christopher Kniffin was the person who found out about the special masks for pets through the Invisible Fence organization called "Project Breathe."
The organization then donated the oxygen masks, which can be used on both dogs and cats, to the first responders.
“It takes five seconds to set up; then the dog can relax while on the oxygen for however long it takes for them to feel better,” Kniffin said.
He said the families are surprised that they have this kind of equipment even available.
“The families are more shocked and surprised that we have the equipment to be able to take care of them because it's their family members. Animals are their family members.”
Now, every fire engine and ambulance in Kendall County has the animal oxygen masks.
Vaughn and Kniffin said the rescued pups are all doing okay and credit teamwork, quick-thinking, and those masks for the positive outcome.
“I believe it’s the oxygen that saved both those dogs’ lives and the quick thinking of the paramedics,” Vaughan said.
Any E.M.S. agency in the nation can request the masks for their emergency vehicles and get a kit for free by requesting one here.