Firefighters reunite with dogs pulled from a house fire

Pueblo firefighters reunited with the dogs they pulled out of a house fire last week.

Firefighters responded to a fire on the south side of Pueblo last Wednesday. When they arrived, two dogs were inside the home.

“I thought they were dead. I screamed. I fell to the floor,” said Sara Davila, who lives in the home on Bobcat Lane.

Firefighters found the dogs hiding underneath a bed on the second floor. Once they were out of the home, firefighters used special masks designed for animals to resuscitate Roxy, a three-year-old Miniature Pinscher, and Kasper, a six-year-old Jack Russell Terrier.

“After breathing in all the smoke what they need is a high concentration of oxygen and what these allow us to do is to be able to seal the masks around their nose in order for the concentration of oxygen to be really high,” said firefighter Josh Sprague.

Sprague said when he began resuscitating the dogs, they were breathing five to six times a minute.

Davila said she didn’t know those masks existed but she’s thankful Pueblo firefighters had them available. The Southern Colorado Kennel Club donated the masks to the Pueblo Fire Department about five years ago.

“We put these in the hands of all the firefighters that we could find so they could do what they did the other night,” said Renee Wolfe, vice president of the Southern Colorado Kennel Club.

Davila was able to escape the home with a third dog, Kaylee, unharmed. She said the dogs are doing well, and added that she’s thankful for the firefighters’ efforts.

“They worked like they were a human being. I can’t thank them enough,” Davila said.

The family is staying with relatives for now. Davila said she expects that her family will be able to return home in three months.

The fire began in the kitchen. The cause of the fire is unknown.