REDMOND, OR -- Redmond Fire and Rescue is now better prepared for animal-related rescues. Fire Marshal Tom Mooney says the agency had one pet oxygen mask, but the agency received three more on Monday. "It’s interesting, we’ve used these twice in the last couple of months now, so there seems to be an uptick, for whatever reason," Mooney tells KBND News, "I hope it’s not a pattern. But, if for some reason we continue to get more fires where animals need us, we now have the right tool to help them get back on their feet." He adds, "There’s been a shift in those feelings of, ‘You know what, the animals are part of the family, also.’ So, we should be treating them just the same as a human life. Obviously, the human life is going to take priority over the animal, but if we can save both we’re going to do that."

The reusable masks are bell-shaped, to fit over an animal’s muzzle, "They come in different sizes in the kit: small, medium and large," says Mooney, "And it has kind of a rubber seal on the end, so when you slide it over, it seals it up and oxygen stays flowing where it needs to go and doesn’t escape." The kits are valued at around $100 a piece and were donated by Invisible Fence Central Oregon. 

Mooney says they aren’t only for dogs and cats, "They say the mask can be used as small as a little mouse, all the way up to a medium-sized horse."

Until now, Redmond Fire kept it's one pet mask in the battalion chief’s truck. But Mooney says there was a concern the battalion chief might not respond to every incident when it might be needed, "So now we have a total of four kits; we have one on each fire engine and one on our battalion chief’s rig."