East Valley firefighters took action to save a family's pets during a house fire near Alma School and Warner roads Saturday morning.
There were no human patients at the house fire in Chandler, but firefighters did treat other precious lives.
“We busted through the front door. There was no visibility—smoke down to the floor, and we went in, start doing our thing, and one of the guys felt something hit him in the leg and realized it was a dog trying to get out," Capt. Paul Waz with the Chandler Fire Department said.
Firefighters rescued two dogs and three cats from the smoke-filled home, quickly placing oxygen masks from their FIDO bags to treat them.
"The gentleman that showed up, it was the owner of the house,” Waz said. “He seemed very grateful that we were able to get all the animals out.”
The FIDO bags come from the FETCH Foundation, and founder Marie Peck stopped by Chandler Fire Station #6 Saturday evening to replenish their supply after the morning’s fire.
"We wanted to make sure that these guys and gals don’t go out on a run without the tools that they need.
Sometimes the O2 masks are transported with the animals or maybe even damaged during the save," Peck said.
All of the pets are expected to be OK.
