Firefighting & Rescue Social / Professional Network
Is your Fire Dept. pet friendly?
I think any of us who have been in EMS/Fire for awhile have been involved in a call where a person's pet was involved whether it be a fire, MVC or general EMS call.
I personally feel that we should be considerate of the importance of people's pets.
In no way do I feel that any crew members should endanger themselves or put the pets before human care. I'm talking about just being considerate of people who care deeply for their pets and may be grieving if a pet has been lost.
The department that I belong to is not pet friendly at all. They do not allow any pets at the dept. and they have virtually no consideration for people when their pets are involved in a scene.
I've hit the roof several times with other crew members because they treated a person rudely because they were upset and worried about their pets that were involved.
A year ago Thanksgiving we worked a house fire. The woman had pet birds, fish and two dogs. The birds and fish expired and so did one dog. The dog that did not survive I felt was in part due to our dept. The dog was laying on the floor of the garage and still breathing when we arrived. The entry team did their sweep of the interior but afterwards did nothing to remove the dog that was still breathing. I got upset and wanted one of the guys to get the dog and I wanted to give it some oxygen but the chief wouldn't allow it. The owner of the house was standing there screaming at us to get her dog. They completely ignored her. Sure, the dog may not have lived but we could have at least gotten out of there and tried and the woman could have at least taken it to the vet. It certainly wasn't a safety factor to retrieve the dog. I would have done it myself but could not lift it since it was a German Shepherd. I was pissed over how this was handled and I voiced my opinion to the chief afterwards. He tried to argue that it wasn't in the best interest of everyone involved to bring the dog out but I disagreed.
Another incident was last summer. A woman traveling through my district rolled her car on the interstate. She lost control when something hit her windshield and shattered it. She had her two small dogs with her in the car. One of the dogs was dead when we arrived and the other was missing. The woman was sitting next to her dog crying and she was so upset over the missing dog that we were having a heck of time convincing this woman that she needed treatment. Bystanders finally told her they had spotted the dog and were trying to catch it so she finally allowed us to take her over to the ambulance to examine her. She continued to be extremely worried about her dog but I've basically got a good relationship going with her and I have her cooperating with us. So, here comes one of my other dept. members up to the ambulance to ask if we needed anything. I told him we were good but the woman says "I need someone to find my dog." This member pops off at her and says "Forget the damn dog, we don't care about the dog." Well, that did it. This woman wasn't about to continue to cooperate with us because she wanted to know where her dog was. I was so damned pissed off at the other dept. member that I couldn't see straight.
Luckily one of the bystanders came up to the ambulance and told the woman they had caught the dog and it seemed fine and they would hold it until Animal Control came to pick it up. With a bit of work, I managed to convince her to cooperate again. She had an immediate dislike for the one member that spouted off about her dog and I had the Captain keep him away from the ambulance from that point on.
I explained what happened later to the Captain as well as the Chief. I was hopping mad too. The Chief agreed with me and told me he would talk to the member but only because it could have compromised patient care.
I realize I'm a lone wolf in my dept. when it comes to being an animal lover. I just feel that we need to respect people's feelings towards their pets whether we would feel the same or not. We don't have to be mean or rude about it.
How does your dept. handle scenes where pets are involved? Do your members try to be considerate and try to help out or see to it that someone else is helping with a pet that is involved?? Do your members attempt to be considerate of people's feelings about their pets?
I personally feel that we should be considerate of the importance of people's pets.
In no way do I feel that any crew members should endanger themselves or put the pets before human care. I'm talking about just being considerate of people who care deeply for their pets and may be grieving if a pet has been lost.
The department that I belong to is not pet friendly at all. They do not allow any pets at the dept. and they have virtually no consideration for people when their pets are involved in a scene.
I've hit the roof several times with other crew members because they treated a person rudely because they were upset and worried about their pets that were involved.
A year ago Thanksgiving we worked a house fire. The woman had pet birds, fish and two dogs. The birds and fish expired and so did one dog. The dog that did not survive I felt was in part due to our dept. The dog was laying on the floor of the garage and still breathing when we arrived. The entry team did their sweep of the interior but afterwards did nothing to remove the dog that was still breathing. I got upset and wanted one of the guys to get the dog and I wanted to give it some oxygen but the chief wouldn't allow it. The owner of the house was standing there screaming at us to get her dog. They completely ignored her. Sure, the dog may not have lived but we could have at least gotten out of there and tried and the woman could have at least taken it to the vet. It certainly wasn't a safety factor to retrieve the dog. I would have done it myself but could not lift it since it was a German Shepherd. I was pissed over how this was handled and I voiced my opinion to the chief afterwards. He tried to argue that it wasn't in the best interest of everyone involved to bring the dog out but I disagreed.
Another incident was last summer. A woman traveling through my district rolled her car on the interstate. She lost control when something hit her windshield and shattered it. She had her two small dogs with her in the car. One of the dogs was dead when we arrived and the other was missing. The woman was sitting next to her dog crying and she was so upset over the missing dog that we were having a heck of time convincing this woman that she needed treatment. Bystanders finally told her they had spotted the dog and were trying to catch it so she finally allowed us to take her over to the ambulance to examine her. She continued to be extremely worried about her dog but I've basically got a good relationship going with her and I have her cooperating with us. So, here comes one of my other dept. members up to the ambulance to ask if we needed anything. I told him we were good but the woman says "I need someone to find my dog." This member pops off at her and says "Forget the damn dog, we don't care about the dog." Well, that did it. This woman wasn't about to continue to cooperate with us because she wanted to know where her dog was. I was so damned pissed off at the other dept. member that I couldn't see straight.
Luckily one of the bystanders came up to the ambulance and told the woman they had caught the dog and it seemed fine and they would hold it until Animal Control came to pick it up. With a bit of work, I managed to convince her to cooperate again. She had an immediate dislike for the one member that spouted off about her dog and I had the Captain keep him away from the ambulance from that point on.
I explained what happened later to the Captain as well as the Chief. I was hopping mad too. The Chief agreed with me and told me he would talk to the member but only because it could have compromised patient care.
I realize I'm a lone wolf in my dept. when it comes to being an animal lover. I just feel that we need to respect people's feelings towards their pets whether we would feel the same or not. We don't have to be mean or rude about it.
How does your dept. handle scenes where pets are involved? Do your members try to be considerate and try to help out or see to it that someone else is helping with a pet that is involved?? Do your members attempt to be considerate of people's feelings about their pets?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark David Rempe on -
I wish my department was pet friendly, the city as well! I had to leave my dog with my parents because unless you buy a house, no renters will let you have pets. That was the hardest thing I ever had to do! Our department won't even let pets in the bays. Wish it were different.
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Permalink Reply by Leslie Pederson on -
We always take care of pets at all calls, they too are our priority, we look at them as family members. We also allow pets in the fire hall at anytime. We even have our training grounds, (which is a substantial sized area), fenced so that we can close all the gates and have doggy play days. We have a grassy potty area with a pick-up bag dispenser and lots of water for them to play in. The only thing we ask is that when they get a call is, they have to kennel their dogs due to a bad dog that took apart a door once.
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Permalink Reply by meagen on -
my dept is pet friendly we have a member who brings his labrabor, Sadie, to the station and she goes anywhere she wants, only now we have a brand new station so she is only allowed in the bays or in the recepionists office. Actually my junior dept has a mascott he is a two year old half huskie named Tonka that we rescued from the animal shelter that we were volunteering at as he was on the table to be put down, so now he is at all our trainings and fundraisers.
on calls if an animal is involved they are also a priority as long as it wont put a firefighter or another person in danger. we all have animals, it would be hard on us if we had to leave our animals so everyone tries their best to help the animals.
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