Photos and video captured Santa Monica firefighters successfully resuscitating a small dog that was trapped in a burning apartment this week.
The pooch survived after firefighters performed CPR and provided oxygen through a mask designed for pets, according to a Facebook post from the Santa Monica Fire Department.
The fire was reported about 4 p.m. Tuesday at a one-story apartment building in the 1800 block of Seventh Street, near Santa Monica High School. One unit of the building had a rapidly growing fire in its kitchen and storage room.
While some firefighters cut into the roof to “allow for the release of super heated smoke and fire gasses,” others entered the unit to find a dog, unresponsive, overcome by the heat and smoke.
The dog, named Nalu, was pulled out of the apartment, not breathing and without a pulse. But after 20 minutes of first aid, the pooch began breathing on its own and was able to walk, the Fire Department said. Neighbors took the dog to a local animal hospital.
“It was pretty amazing because I’ve been on a number of animal rescues like this that did not come out the same way that Nalu’s story did,” said Andrew Klein, the firefighter who performed pet CPR, which he said is known as mouth-to-snout. “It was definitely a win for the whole team and the department that we got him back.”
Klein told KTLA he’d only performed mouth-to-snout four or five times before.
A photographer named Billy Fernando captured video and photos of the rescue.
“That a boy,” the firefighters can be heard saying to the dog, patting it as it receives oxygen.
“This brave firemen (sic) named Andrew Klein from Santa Monica Fire Department went in for the rescue and gave the pet a CPR and took care of her back to life,” Fernando wrote. “Faith in humanity restored.”
Twenty-three firefighters knocked the blaze down in about 10 minutes. No humans were injured.
Nalu’s owner Crystal Limirand said her apartment was destroyed, but she’s glad to still have her best friend.
“I stood there in shock, and then I followed them and was in shock,” she recalled of the incident. “I’m a nurse and now I know how family members feel when they watch us do CPR on their family members. It’s awful.”
The cause of the fire remained under investigation as of Wednesday. The apartment’s occupant was being helped by the Red Cross.