Fire Department

The Madison Fire Department has acquired new oxygen masks specially designed for animals. Effective today, the masks are placed into service and stored on Command Car 31, which responds to all structure fires in the City of Madison, making the masks readily accessible to firefighters who may need to help a sick or injured pet following a fire.  

The department’s decision to obtain new pet oxygen masks was inspired, in part, by 10-year-old Finn Sullivan of DeForest, WI, who wrote a letter to Madison Fire Chief Steven Davis.

“I learned that over 40,000 pets die in fires every year. That made me sad,” he wrote. “I learned that not every Fire Department has pet oxygen masks. I wanted to help change that.”

The Madison Fire Department’s EMS Training Division had been researching pet oxygen products for the department, but it was Finn’s letter that propelled the MFD to make a purchase.

The new set of Wag’n O2 Fur Life oxygen masks is billed to accommodate “any animal species from the size of a mouse to a newborn horse” and is compatible with the department’s existing oxygen systems.

For Finn Sullivan, who has two dogs of his own, Madison is just the beginning of a greater quest. He has contacted over 700 fire departments to find out if they have pet oxygen masks, encouraging all of them to carry this specialized equipment “because every pet matters.”