Good Samaritan helps save family dog’s life in Oregon house fire
By Jeffrey Lindblom and Joanna Wilson
Click here for updates on this story
SCAPPOOSE Oregon (KPTV) — A house fire in Scappoose displaced “several” people, killed one dog and injured another dog on Thursday night, according to the Scappoose fire chief.
At about 11 p.m., firefighters responded to a fire at the 5200 block of Third Street. Reports said the people were able to escape, but pets were still trapped inside.
Firefighters arrived to find flames moving through the house and burning out of several windows. Smoke filled the house nearly to the floor and about 30% of the home was involved.
Firefighters said two residents and three pets had been in the house when the fire started.
Crews found the first trapped dog 10 minutes after arriving, and a second dog two minutes later. Responding police officers began giving the pets first aid while firefighters continued to deal with the fire.
The flames were under control in about 15 minutes, firefighters said.
A Scappoose man, Guy Auker, said he drove past the scene at that point and noticed the first aid efforts.
“The one trooper was giving O2 to a bigger dog while another officer was trying to do some sort of chest compressions on the smaller dog,” Auker said. “Since I am a flight attendant for an airline and I am trained in CPR and also I learned on YouTube on how to do CPR on pets. I went to assist.”
Auker said the officer gave the smaller dog chest compressions while he gave the dog “mouth-to-mouth/muzzle” rescue breaths.
While the smaller dog did not survive, the larger dog woke up and was taken by police car to a 24-hour vet clinic, the fire chief said.
The fire chief said the help from all, including Auker and responding police officers, was “defining,” and without their help, the second dog would not have survived either.
“Truly a miracle,” the fire chief said.
One person was treated for smoke inhalation and “several” people were displaced by the fire, firefighters said. They are being helped by the local American Red Cross.
Firefighters said the cause of the fire is still being investigated.
Auker said he is a huge dog lover, and this event has pushed him to share his training in first aid for pets.
“I put it on my list of things to do to get the training and certification to teach first responders and anyone else who wants to learn CPR on pets,” Auker said. “This now motivates me. I am now going to go do it very soon. I now want to make a difference.”
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
