LIFE-SAVING pet oxygen masks have been donated to Barrow and Ulverston fire stations to help with animal rescues.
The specially designed animal oxygen masks have been donated to the Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service stations by Cathy and Simon Broomfield, who run Verstone Kennels and Cattery, at Mascalles, Ulverston.
The Broomfields are backing the Smokey Paws national campaign to give pets a lifeline if they are involved in fires and accidents. These are understood to be the fire pet masks at Cumbria fire stations.
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Smokey Paws, a not for profit organisation, says 46 per cent of households in the UK have pets and with more 40,000 house fires year, it's an unfortunate fact that pets die from smoke inhalation. The mask kits, which are made in three different sizes, have been proven to save pets.
Mr and Mrs Broomfield's Chesapeake Bay retriever, Pepper, attended Barrow Fire Station, with her owners to demonstrated how the masks neatly fit pets.
Mrs Broomfield said: "We have funded the two stations with oxygen masks that are designed to be used for all sizes of pets when they are rescued.
"Human masks can in theory be used, but the fit over the pet's face isn’t effective so this will be so much better for them.
"We first saw the idea in one of the national dog publications, and just thought what a brilliant idea it was. When we explored it further we realised that these will be the first kits to be supplied to crews in Cumbria which makes it even more exciting."
Roger Exley, station manager at Barrow Fire Station, thanked the Broomfields for their donation and said: "Firefighters attend a large number of property and fires across the country and throughout the UK. Our primary goal is to rescue people and then prevent the fire spreading and protect the property. However we must have a concern about the family pets, they are really important to the families so it's really important that we try to save them or provide them with some first aid to make them better.
"We do attend lots of properties that have animals and we hopefully can now make a difference to them."
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