Baltimore city firefighters rescued a cat Saturday morning from a house fire in Southwest Baltimore, reviving the unconscious, soot-covered animal using CPR and an oxygen mask.
Units were dispatched at 9:30 a.m., finding heavy fire at the rear of a two-story row home in the 2500 block of W. Fairmount Ave. in the Shipley Hill neighborhood.
Occupants of the home, and of two connected homes, made it out safely but a cat was found lying inside.
"They actually found the cat while extinguishing the fire," said department spokesman Sam Johnson. "It had dirt and soot on it."
Animal control officials were initially requested to remove the animal. Before that could occur, the cat was revived.
The department tweeted a photo of a firefighter leaning over a white cat that is sitting up and attached to an oxygen bag and tube. The cat's back half is covered in soot.
"Our units did a remarkable job of rescuing a cat from the fire," Johnson said.
Oxygen masks come in adult and child sizes and Johnson believes the firefighters used a child-sized mask on the cat.
There were no firefighter injuries. One family was displaced, and the cause of the fire, which took 40 minutes to control, is under investigation.
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