First Responders with Junction City and Geary County Rural Fire are now equipped to save a pet’s life. That’s because Invisible Fence of Topeka has donated three pet oxygen mask kits to the departments. Dr. Julie Ebert with Flint Hills Veterinary Hospital provided additional pet saving tips to the group such as pet first aid and CPR.

This donation is a part of Invisible Fence Brand’s Project Breathe program, which was established with the goal of equipping every fire station in America and Canada with pet oxygen masks. These masks allow firefighters and EMS staff to give oxygen to pets who are suffering from smoke inhalation when they are rescued from fires and often save pets’ lives.

Invisible Fence Brand has donated a total of more than 18,200 pet oxygen masks to fire stations all over the U.S. and Canada throughout the life of the program. A reported 170+ pets have been saved by the donated masks so far.

Junction City nd surrounding areas are now joining the ranks of cities like Seattle, Chicago, Denver, and Salt Lake City who have all received donated pet oxygen masks from Project Breathe^™ program.

“Thank God they had the masks. They (the dogs) are just like family. I don’t know what I’d do without them. Things can be replaced. Lives can’t, whether they’re animals or people,” said a pet owner whose dogs were recently rescued using donated masks.

Although the number of pets that die in fires is not an official statistic kept by the U.S. Fire Administration, industry web sites and sources have cited an estimated 40,000 to 150,000 pets die in fires each year, most succumbing to smoke inhalation. In most states, emergency responders are unequipped to deal with the crisis. The loss is terrible for the family, heart wrenching for firefighters.

The company has set up a website, www.invisiblefence.com/O2, where local fire personnel can make a request for their own departments.