This is the emotional moment a tiny puppy was saved after being pulled from a kennel fire in which four dogs died.
The eight-month-old terrier dog was given oxygen and heart massage therapy by firefighters who were called to the blaze in Little Hulton, Gtr Mancs., last night.
It is believed that one of the dogs homed inside had jumped and knocked over a heat lamp which set fire to straw on the floor inside the wooden building.
Eyewitness Chris Whitehead described the emotional moment the puppy was brought back to life.
Cleaner Chris, 42, said: “One of the firefighters brought this tiny dog out from the building and put him on the ground.
“He put a mask over his face and started working at him. He was really going for it and about four of his colleagues came over to help.
“All of a sudden the dog opened his little eyes. It was so emotional to watch as when they brought him out, I was sure he was dead.
“It’s so sad, especially for the dogs that died. They were well-looked after, not mistreated, so it’s terrible that this has happened.”
Following the break-out, two adults and six children managed to get themselves outside of the property, and a neighbour helped to tackle the blaze with a hose.
He then heroically dragged six of the dogs to safety, but could not get close enough to the other kennels because of the ferocity of the flames.
Firefighters managed to save the lives of two more dogs by giving them resuscitation, however four dogs were sadly declared dead at the scene.
Firefighter Dale Chetto carried out CPR on the young terrier which had no heartbeat when it was pulled from its kennel.
He said: “He was only small, I could hold him in my hand, and when I first pulled him out I could not feel a pulse.
“The heart massage is exactly the same as you would do with an adult, although I put a breathing mask with oxygen in it on him instead of doing mouth to mouth!
“I was doing heart massage for about five minutes until I started feeling a beat in his test.
“After he had the oxygen for a while I could sense he was breathing on his own, and he eventually started coming round.”
Firefighters searched the house and prevented the fire from spreading to most of the house, although it did cause some damage to the back door and window.
Chris, from Salford, Gtr Mancs., said: “I was out with my daughter when I saw smoke in the distance.
“I left her with a neighbour and went to see what was going on.
“Within seconds of me walking into the garden the fire had taken hold. A minute later the fire brigade arrived.
“It was terrible to see but the firefighters did an amazing job.”
Last night, neighbour Janet Wallwork took to Facebook to praise the fire service for their efforts.
She wrote: “Praise the firemen who faught (sic) hard and apparently were very distressed trying to save 8 puppy dogs from raging fire in a shed on Kenyon way. At least 4 have died.
And hats off to the firemen who did all they could just as if the pups were human.
“RIP to the baby doggies who lost their very young lives.”
John Duffin, watch manager at Farnworth fire station, said: “The lads were brilliant.
“The kennels and sheds were well alight when we arrived, but the crews quickly managed to contain the flames
“We believe the fire started when a dog in one of the kennels jumped and knocked a heat lamp to the floor, which ignited straw on the ground.
“There are always lots of flammable materials in kennels, such as dry straw and try wood, so the fire ripped through all the structures pretty quickly.”
The two dogs which were resuscitated were taken to the vets for emergency treatment and the other surviving animals were being looked after by family members.
Watch manager Duffin added: “Unfortunately, we have had fires where there have been dog fatalities before.
“The type of structures you find dogs in are usually very quick to burn, and once they start burning there is nowhere for the animals to go.
“Owners need to be extremely careful with how they position heat lamps.”
The owner of the dogs said her family were very upset by what had happened but declined to comment further.
The neighbour who saved some of the dogs was also too upset to comment.
