Firefighter revives pit bull with CPR after blaze

Chicago firefighters rescued two pet dogs from a Bucktown fire on Friday afternoon and used CPR techniques to revive one of the animals, which had stopped breathing. Firefighter and paramedic Tammy Rodriguez was beaming as she appeared with the resuscitated pooch, a female named Howdy, at a news conference.

Rodriguez said one of her colleagues carried the lifeless dog to her outside the fire scene. She started working on the animal immediately. “(The dog) was completely out,” Rodriguez said as the now-energetic dog perched over her shoulder.

“And we just started putting the mask (on) and giving it straight oxygen. I started performing CPR, and for a while there it wasn’t reacting, but I think just the positive pressure of oxygen made it start breathing, which was exciting. All of a sudden she started opening her eyes and we’re like ‘Oh, my God’ … and then she got up,” she added.

A second dog, a puppy, was rescued from the fire and received treatment, Rodrigquez said. Rodriguez said she owns three dogs herself and considers them a part of the family. She was just doing her job Friday in bringing Howdy back. “It was a great feeling,” she said.