Seeing the impact of last month’s tragic fires in California made Rutledge-based non-profit Rescue Ranch question if local fire departments had emergency oxygen masks for pets.
Finding a critical need, Rescue Ranch’s Renee Ussery and Courtney Bryson recently used a donation from an adopter to purchase 21 pet oxygen mask kits from Wag’N O2 Fur Life, which aims to provide kits to every fire and EMS department across North America.
Rescue Ranch is distributing the kits to fire departments across Georgia, including the Madison Fire Department, the Morgan County Fire Rescue stations in Buckhead and Rutledge; the Greshamville Fire Department, the DeKalb County Fire Rescue stations in Stone Mountain and Tucker; the Pike County Fire Department; the Newnan Fire Department; the Demorest Fire Department; and Griffin Fire Rescue.
Each kit comes with three reusable oxygen masks in different sizes, air tubes, instructions, a carrying bag, a kennel lead, and an emergency response form to provide information to veterinarians and to help reunite animals with owners. Kits also include a warranty for fire departments.
“Any time you have a large fire, if a pet is in a home, then they are just the same as us. They are exposed to smoke and that can make breathing very difficult for them. [The kit] increases the likelihood of them being able to survive an incident like that,” Ussery said about the kits’ significance.
Rescue Ranch is also planning a fundraiser with the Humane Society of Morgan County to raise money to purchase kits for the rest of Morgan County’s fire stations and other stations around the lake area.
Ussery and Bryson encourage the community to help purchase kits for their local fire departments.
“If I could ask for anything, it’s just people’s awareness that this is something that could save their pet’s life and not just their pet. If you buy one kit, it goes out to the community,” shared Ussery. “It has an impact on the community as a whole. It’s a really nice resource because I think for so many of us, [pets] are our best friends, they’re our family members, and for seniors, they mean everything to them. If people could understand just by donating a kit what kind of ripple effect it could have in their community.”
For anyone interested in donating, please visit petoxygenmasks.org. Wag’N O2 Fur Life can ship kits directly to fire departments.