Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Wheaton Fire Chief Bill Schultz estimates his staff only sees one or two cases per year of animals overcome by smoke inhalation, and they are now equipped with six kits designed to help any pet with a snout breathe easier in the case of a fire. Each kit contains three sizes of masks for small, medium and large pets, including dogs, cats, ferrets and gerbils. The masks work just like a human oxygen mask.
Schultz said the department has had animal oxygen masks in the past, but they were outdated and losing quality over time from being mostly unused.
No official statistics on pet casualties are kept by the U.S. Fire Administration, but industry websites and sources estimate between 40,000 to 150,000 pets die in fires each year, mostly due to smoke inhalation.
Invisible Fence DuPage donated six pet oxygen mask kits to the fire department earlier this month, after a Wheaton firefighter with a soft spot for pets made the request.
The business is part of a national company that installs electronic dog fence systems and runs Project Breathe, which has resulted in 13,000 donated pet oxygen kits to fire departments in the U.S. and Canada in the past 10 years. Anyone interested in requesting pet oxygen mask kits for their community can do so at www.invisiblefence.com/why-invisible-fence/project-breathe.
thanks Dan
