April 15, 2011 9:42 PM
Chicago firefighter Tammy Rodriguez appears with a pit bull she revived at a fire scene Friday. (CBS)
CHICAGO (CBS) – Chicago firefighters rescued two pet dogs from a Bucktown fire Friday afternoon and used CPR techniques to revive one of the animals, which had stopped breathing.
Firefighter and paramedic Tammy Rodriguez was beaming as she appeared with the resuscitated pooch, a female named Howdy, at a Friday evening news conference at the Engine 57 station.Rodriguez said one of her colleagues carried the lifeless dog to her outside the fire scene, a three-flat at 1833 N. Wood Ave. She started working on the animal immediately.
“(The dog) was completely out,” Rodriguez said as the now-energetic dog perched over her shoulder. “And we just started putting the mask (on) and giving it straight oxygen. I started performing CPR, and for awhile there it wasn’t reacting, but I think just the positive pressure of oxygen made it start breathing, which was exciting.”
“All of a sudden she started opening her eyes and we’re like ‘Oh, my God’ … and then she got up,” she added.
A second dog, a puppy, was rescued from the fire and received treatment, Rodrigquez said.
Jorden Grennan, the owner of the two dogs, said the younger pet, a male named Hossa, was spending the night at a veterinarian’s.
No people were injured in the blaze, which began around 3 p.m., but the occupants were displaced. A cause was under investigation.
Rodriguez said she owns three dogs herself and considers them a part of the family. She was just doing her job Friday in bringing Howdy back.
“It was a great feeling,” she said.
