Massena firefighters save 35 dogs from Spruce Street house fire
May 21—MASSENA — Massena firefighters who responded to a working structure fire Monday night at 39 Spruce St. were faced with not only battling the flames, but attempting to rescue 37 dogs in the home.
Chief Patrick M. O'Brien said they were dispatched at about 7:30 p.m. and were on the scene until just after 10 p.m. Norfolk Fire provided personnel and Louisville Fire manned the Massena station. Also on the scene were the Massena Rescue Squad and Massena Police Department.
He said that when they arrived on the scene, the sole occupant of what he described as a "bungalow-type residence" had been able to escape the fire and there were a couple of dogs on the front porch. The property owner is listed as John D. Albert.
"We had smoke pushing out pretty heavy from the building and had it coming right out the windows. It was rolling pretty good," O'Brien said. "When we first got there, somebody told me there could be up to 11 dogs and I was thinking, 'Wow, 11 dogs in this little house.' That number grew and grew and grew, and it became clear the owner didn't know how many dogs he really had."
It turned out to be many more than 11.
"We just never seemed to stop pulling dogs out. The final tally there was 37 dogs," he said.
O'Brien said some of the dogs came out on the front porch and could be pulled to safety by firefighters as other members of the department geared up to enter the house.
"The heavy smoke and flames hadn't made it to the porch yet. Some guys were getting their air packs on when we first got there. We had other guys just leaning into the front porch, grabbing the dogs, and yanking them out one at a time," he said.
He said the firefighters who entered the building had air bottles as part of their equipment, each lasting about 20 minutes.
"They're called 30-minute bottles, but when you're huffing and puffing and working, they're usually about a 20-minute bottle. I would say almost everybody that went in and was pulling dogs out went in, came out, went in, came out, so at least three bottle changes for almost all of our guys. Almost all of them spent a good hour working inside the house," O'Brien said.
What made it more difficult, he said, was that some of the dogs were spooked and ran back into the house and had to be rescued again.
"Luckily, by the time the dogs are starting to run back into the house, our guys are all packed up. We had a hose line stretch of water and they were ready to go inside," he said.
Those efforts saved most of the dogs.
"I would have thought for sure we would have lost almost all of them because when they were coming out, most of them were barely breathing. They were non-responsive. But, we have a firefighter that's trained in animal CPR and first aid (Korey A. Trippany), so he worked with Massena Rescue and of 37 dogs, we had two unfortunately perish. But, the other 35 made it. That's pretty impressive, 35 out of 37," he said.
O'Brien said he was unsure of the status of the dogs, but believes arrangements were being made to find temporary shelter for them. The American Red Cross was also notified to provide assistance to the resident.
He said the fire was labeled as accidental.
"It looks like it was a malfunction of the dryer," he said.
