Just in time for National Puppy Day, we wanted to share with you a touching grant we received thanks to Mary Homan, the animal-loving spouse of Battalion Chief Bob Homan. As a spouse of someone in the fire service, Mary knew the challenges faced by our first responders when responding to a call involving family pets, and she took action. She wanted the Renton Fire Department to have even more of an opportunity to make additional positive impacts on the families that go through the unfortunate experience of having a house fire that their pets are involved in as well. We understand that people who have pets treat them as part of the family, and so do we.
The grant supplied pet masks to all Renton RFA Battalion vehicles and Aid Units. They give our firefighters the ability to breathe for, or potentially resuscitate, an animal when they’ve been pulled from a burning structure. These masks were donated to Renton RFA by The Invisible Fence Company under their program called “Project Breathe”.
The kit comes with three different sizes of mask for different size cats and dogs they are designed to help. There is a plasticized instruction sheet included in the kit explaining the oxygen delivery amounts for the size of animal you are providing assistance to. The instruction sheets also walk you through step-by-step instruction on how to actually perform CPR on the pet.
Below are some pictures of Mary with her pets, showing how the masks fit on certain animals of different sizes. We also have pictured the instruction sheet on delivery methods and amount of oxygen is recommended for different size pets. Please feel free to copy these pictures for your own use of you like just in case of an incident at your house. There are specific instructions on how to clear an airway on your pet as well.
This is a program that other departments can also access by writing a letter to the company explaining the need and the number of masks required to outfit their Department. We strongly recommend other departments look into this program if they don’t currently have masks for their community’s furry family members.
Pet masks will now be a resource at every fire we respond to, so we will always be ready to assist your four legged family members if needed! Our many thanks go out to Mary and Bob for their thoughtfulness and dedication to the Renton community.
