Firefighters, dog catcher save 5 pets

Quick action by first responders to a house fire in the 500 block of North Denton Street in Mexia saved the lives of five dogs home alone Thursday, March 27.

Mexia Fire Chief Robert LaFoy said law enforcement officers at the scene saw five dogs through a window in the small house and the police department dispatcher alerted the animal control officer. “Between the animal control officer and firefighters, we as a team caught and brought the dogs out of the house,” LaFoy said.

Animal Control Officer Lisa Shaffer said she got the call about 8 a.m. “Once I got there the officer on the scene showed me where the dogs were, and we got to work,” Shaffer said. “I was able to pull the two biggest dogs out from the room they were in.”

The decision was made at that point by the fire department commander on the scene to open the house’s door and let the other three dogs run out to keep them safe, Shaffer said.

Shaffer said once the home’s owners arrived, they were able to catch the three loose dogs. “All the dogs were saved and are doing okay,” she said.

It was an unusual day in the life of a dog catcher, Shaffer said. “This is the first time I have been called out for something like this,” said Shaffer, who has been on the job a little more than a year and spends her days rescuing lost dogs from the street and caring for them. “This is not a common practice to enter a burning structure to rescue animals, but the fire department determined that this operation was safe enough to be executed with minimal danger.”

Chief LaFoy said encountering pets in house fires is not unusual for firefi ghters. “We do routinely find animals and bring them outside,” he said.

The Mexia Fire Department worked 176 calls in March, involving six structural fires, 134 EMS calls and 36 other emergency and nonemergency calls. For the year, it has responded to 529 calls, involving 22 structural fires, 394 EMS calls and 113 other emergency and nonemergency calls.