Helping Animals

[ashfire]

As a firefighter many times pets and other animals maybe come trapped in burning buildings and hopefully firefighters will find them remove them to safety and help to give them oxygen to help them until they are taken to a vet hospital.
On a recent fire department forum one of the people on there brought up info that cameout in our county about a device that can be bought by the fire service that can be kept on a fire unit that can be hooked up to oxygen and placed over a animal's snout to give them oxygen.
Well the forum turn in a mess. There were those that call themselfs firefighters and said they would not risk their life or would not bother removing someone's pet and would continue with putting out the fire and maybe pickup the animal later.
It really got bad when others said they were heartless and don't deserve to be a firefighter and they come back with every four letter word they could use and what they could do about it.
I read the past forums about animals and Heaven and what.
One told me he spent 8 years in Christian school and read the Bible forward and back and said he doesn't believe any of it. When I tried to use my believes about what God and animals he told me off in the same way as the others.
I believe if it lives and needs to be saved from death I will do what I can to help save it.

[Nia-chan]

I believe that all life is important, from human to doggy to hamster and even to the little spiders that I find so icky. >< Ever since the beginning, mankind was supposed to look after and care for the animals. However, I also believe that God values us more than the animals. I think if there's some saving device for firefighters that's just for animals, I think it's great, but if there's a choice between a person and an animal, one should protect the person.

[kryptech]

After reading your post, ashfire, my response would pretty much mirror Nia-chan's. Well said.

[mitsuki lover]

Basic triage method:the worst injured help first.To put it another way:human victims come first and then pets and other animals.It may sound cruel but at times
you have to make the distinction between the fact that animals(especially pets)are just companions for us here temporarily and the fact that humans are for eternity.
Yes it is tragic when pets die in fires,etc.but when the choice is between saving a human and an animal you have to go with saving the human first.
What I am of course saying here is that animals are of secondary importance.
I am not anti-animal,I am only saying that when you have to make a choice the human always must come first.

[ashfire]

Not that I would not save a person first but in most cases people will either be outside when we get there or not at home when a fire happens, when we search what ever we find will be removed and handle to others to take care of so why not have a item they can use that will help.
In most cases today, the fire service have IF smoke cameras to see through smoke and find victims quickers. Another thing is that we have a rule we must follow now, 2 In and 2 Out, meaning 2 firefighters can enter a building but 2 must stay out if the other 2 get in trouble and must go in for them. Some fire dept will not allow anyone inside until until all units are on scene and and a Rapid Intervention Team is setup to do any rescues of citizens or firefighters.
A fire chief said some of the actions are getting more firefighters killed because it allows the fire to burn more and makes a structure unstable and when they go in the structure will collaspes on them.
Rapid attack, quick knock down and save everything that breathes air.

[Alice]

While of course human life must come first, I'm glad that some fire departments are prepared to deal with animals who need first aid or whatever.

To some people, their pets are so important to them that they might try to run back into the fire to save 'em. It's not smart, perhaps, and maybe they wouldn't if they thought about it when calm, but some people would.

Just knowing that firefighters have some training and knowledge of what to do about pets might keep people from risking their lives this way.