Three dogs and three cats are recovering after Phoenix fire crews pulled them from a burning home near 37th and Van Buren streets around noon, reviving several of the animals with specialized oxygen masks before rushing them to an animal hospital. The three human occupants of the house escaped safely, but the fire displaced them from their home.
According to 12News, firefighters reported seeing smoke and fire coming from the small residential home as soon as they arrived. While working to knock down the flames, crews discovered the six pets inside and revived some of them on scene using oxygen and Fido masks before transporting the animals to a hospital for further care, per the Arizona Humane Society.
The masks themselves come from the Fido Bag, a kit created by Arizona non-profit The Fetch Foundation that includes cone-shaped oxygen masks built to form an airtight seal over a dog or cat's snout — something a standard human mask cannot do, as 12News has reported. Depending on the kit, Fido Bags may also carry burn sheets, bandages, saline solution, water bowls or restraints.
Why Oxygen Matters Within Minutes
The stakes of that equipment are stark. An estimated 40,000 pets die in residential structure fires across the United States every year, and the vast majority of those deaths come from smoke inhalation rather than burns, according to statistics from the American Veterinary Medical Association cited in the same report. Pets trapped inside burning homes often have no way to escape on their own, making the moment of rescue critical.
Veterinary oxygen masks can help unconscious animals breathe, making them a tool crews can use after rescuing pets from fires.
Phoenix Fire Department has used Fido Bags for several years, 12News has reported, allowing firefighters to provide oxygen to animals rescued from fires. That equipment meant crews near 37th and Van Buren were prepared when they found the three dogs and three cats inside the home on Sunday, November 8.
Part of a Recent Pattern in Phoenix
This rescue is not an isolated case. In September, Phoenix firefighters revived two dogs overcome by smoke inhalation during a Laveen house fire using Fido bags before getting them to an animal hospital, both of which survived, as Hoodline previously reported. Earlier that same month, crews near 35th and Peoria avenues used a Fido mask to revive a cat pulled from a garage fire before reuniting it with its owner, according to FOX 10 Phoenix; that displaced family received housing help through Phoenix's Community Assistance Program.
The animals were taken to a nearby animal hospital for further treatment, according to the Arizona Humane Society.
The Arizona Humane Society projected taking in 28,000 sick, injured, and vulnerable animals in 2026, its highest annual intake in more than a decade, KTAR News has reported.
The cause of the fire near 37th and Van Buren has not been disclosed, and the current medical prognosis for the three dogs and three cats remains unknown. It is also unclear whether the three displaced residents received emergency housing assistance.
