An eight-stone bulldog called Bear gave firefighters quite the workout when he was saved from a blaze in Derby.
The fire broke out in a commercial building in Loscoe, a village roughly 10 miles northwest of Nottingham, just before midday on July 30.
The blaze started at a nearby campervan business at 11.50am only to spread – fast – and force officials to shut down the A6007.
As firefighters extinguished the inferno, they realised that Bear was trapped inside – so one crew member burst into the building to save him at 12.24pm.
But that firefighter quickly realised that Bear very much lives up to his name – he weighs about the ‘same as a small adult’, team manager Joe Grimes said.
Bear weighs eight stone, which is a little less than a top-loading washing machine.
‘It was a struggle carrying the equivalent of a small adult out, but we knew we had to get him to safety,’ Joe said yesterday.
‘We then used the donated oxygen mask, and thankfully, Bear seemed to make a quick recovery.’
Bear’s owner, David Simpson, was relieved, to say the least, that his big boy was saved.
‘We are so grateful to Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Services for their response to this fire and for rescuing our dog,’ he said.
‘Bear is doing well and is back to his usual self, thanks to their incredible service!’
Joe said that the crew had lost their pet oxygen mask at a previous house fire that saw them save the life of a dog.
‘The dog was taken away from the incident with the oxygen mask, meaning we didn’t have one situated on the fire engine,’ he recalled.
But Vets for Pets, a network of veterinary practices, donated one two weeks before Bear would wind up needing one.
‘It’s remarkable that the mask was used so soon to save Bear’s life,’ said Dr Jonathan Hadley, practice owner and veterinary surgeon at Vets for Pets Eastwood.
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