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Firefighter does 'mouth to snout' to save four-legged fire victim

By Tara Fasol, The Southern

Sunday, October 21, 2007 10:20 PM CDT

WEST FRANKFORT - Firefighter Dave Chambers took the oath to save others and has since made good on his vow by not only rescuing people but pets as well. His latest four-footed "saves" happened Thursday.

Fire broke out Thursday in a home at 802 North Road in West Frankfort. Fire crews responded around 3:30 p.m. and put out the flames.

There were no people injured but Chambers was being commended by his fellow firefighters for a couple of rescues as crews returned to the fire station.

"We rescued a bunch of animals," Assistant Fire Chief Tom Jordan said. "There were two cats, three kittens, and a dog."

Chambers said firefighter Rob Williams located the first kitten and brought it to him.

"It wasn't breathing," he said. "I did CPR on it and it started responding."

Chambers said he did "mouth-to-snout" on the kitten and gave it oxygen until it began to respond. Lt. Craig Lemmon brought Chambers a second kitten and he also did rescue breathing on it as well.

"He came out of it," Chambers said. "He jumped up in my lap and started purring."

Chambers said he has had animals all of his life and feels it is his job to keep the four-legged members of a family safe, as well.

"A life is a life," he said. "That's except a snake ? I wouldn't do mouth-to-mouth on a snake."

Nearly one year ago Chambers was recognized for doing rescue breathing on a dog that was involved in another West Frankfort house fire. He was aided in that effort by Lt. Ron Rains. Rains said then that firefighters aren't required to try resuscitating animals, but he and Chambers felt it was important for the pets and for their families.

The National Fire Protection Association offers tips online for creating an emergency preparedness plan that includes pets. For more information visit www.nfpa.org.

tara.fasol@thesouthern.com

351-5824