LAKE OZARK – After a residential fire that killed all the pets within a home last fall, the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District medical units will now carry pet oxygen masks.
A firefighter in the district contacted local area resident, Kristine McMahon, to figure out a solution. Her work led to the donation of masks from the organization Wag’N O2 Fur Life. The group is based in Vancouver, Washington.
“There’s a lot of pets that die in fires every year, and the pet’s life that could be saved, may be yours,” McMahon said. “If they don’t have the materials to save the pets then it doesn’t look good.”
Wag’N O2 Fur Life’s goal is to provide oxygen masks to first responders across North America to save animal lives following structural fires.
According to its website, “since its inception in 2008, the Wag’N O2 Fur Life Program has provided over 13,000 pet oxygen mask kits to more than 5,250 Fire & EMS departments in North America.” The organization equates that to only 35.21% of fire departments in the U.S. being properly equipped with animal oxygen masks.
The firefighter who contacted McMahon is Kevin Box. He pulled one of the animals that died in the fire. Something that sparked his initiative.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 plus years in different places. I’ve had a lot of unfortunate incidents with pets and I’m a very big pet lover,” Box said. “It’s the same as losing a family member or losing a child, for me, my dog is my family”
The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that nearly 40,000 pets die every year in fires, most due to smoke inhalation. Due to those facts and the recent incident, it was vital to the Lake Ozark department to become equipped.
The department said the new masks will greatly enhance its mission for life safety.
“It’s going to give us every opportunity to save that animals life, not that we haven’t attempted other means in the past, but this is specifically built for pets,” Marc Carr, the deputy chief EMS at the fire district, said.