Florida: Firefighters use pet oxygen masks to rescue 33 dogs from blaze in 'hoarder house'

FLORIDA -- Almost three dozen dogs were rescued from what fire officials called a hoarder's house in Dania Beach, Florida on Thursday night.

Firefighters pulled a total of 34 dogs out of the single family residence after responding to the fire shortly before 11pm.

 

 

Nine animals were transported by rescue truck to a nearby animal hospital, and one dog perished, Broward Sheriff's Office Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles told Daily Mail Online.

No people were injured in the fire, and the cause of the blaze was unclear.

'It was an extraordinary call, given the number of animals,' Jachles said. 'And quite a scene, with dogs everywhere, on the lawn, in cages, in the rescue truck.'

 

He said that rescue efforts were complicated by 'floor to ceiling clutter' in the house on the 200 block of South East Park Street.

Jachles said firefighters 'did an excellent job' battling their way through heavy smoke conditions to locate and rescue the dogs.

Firefighters used oxygen masks on a number of the wounded animals, some of which were unresponsive.

'We have pet oxygen masks on our vehicles, but since there were so many animals, we had to use conventional oxygen masks as well,' Jachles said.

'It was no different from a multiple casualty incident, a bus accident for example - except we had canine victims in this instance.'

'We separated them by severity, and took the "red tags" in the rescue truck and began treating them,' said Jachles, using a term for victims in need of immediate medical assistance.

Jachles said he was planning a visit to the animal hospital, where on Friday five dogs were listed in critical condition.

State Fire Marshal department spokesman Joel Brown said the female owner of the house was 'distraught,' but that there was 'no reason to believe the fire was suspicious.'

 

It was unclear whether the owner of the dogs is currently suspected of animal abuse.

Jachles described the dogs rescued from Thursday's fire as 'well cared for and groomed.'

According to the Dania Beach code of ordinances it is forbidden to keep more than three dogs in a home. 

 

 

Code compliance officers will conduct an investigation with animal control officers in Broward County to determine whether the homeowner broke the code, Dania Beach assistant city manager Colin Donnelly told Daily Mail Online.

A Dania Beach city official said records show Broward County Animal Care paid a visit to the home in February, 2010 and removed 15 dogs.  

(Daily Mail - April 16, 2016)