Firefighters responded to a fire at the Shiloh Glen Apartments in Billings on Monday, extinguished the flames, got everyone out safely, and also saved a cat. They feared the cat had carbon monoxide poisoning, so they used the oxygen mask.
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The Billings Fire Department arrived at around 11 a.m. to 3900 Olympic Boulevard.
“I just saw a bunch of black smoke and so I pulled in to see if everybody was OK,” said Anna Dye. “And there were no cars around, no people, just one lady outside the apartment, and so I called 9-1-1.”
Dye says crews acted quickly.
“There were animals coming out,” Dye said. “It was actually really scary.”
And the firefighters searched the apartment and found one cat who had not escaped.
“When firefighter Miller brought the cat out, the cat was not doing well,” said Jordan Greenwood, a Billings firefighter and engineer. “The cat was obviously in distress.”
Greenwood gave oxygen to the cat, treating the feline similar to a person with carbon monoxide poisoning.
“Lots of secretions, very lethargic, panting, labored breathing, respiratory distress, very similar symptoms that you're going to see in a (human) patient,” Greenwood said.
Greenwood says Wag’n O2 Fur Life supplied the pet oxygen masks, which goes over the cat’s head or over the muzzle on a dog.
“The number one way of helping with carbon monoxide poisoning is 100 percent oxygen provided to the patient, the cat in this case,” said Greenwood.
“They were super-fast about it,” Dye said. “I was surprised they got in and out. The flames were out in no time after they showed up. They did an amazing job.”
“It's a service that we provide and so I was happy to do it,” Greenwood said. ”It makes you feel good.”
