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Praise after heroes fought to save dogs

by Stuart Pike
31/ 1/2008

A WOMAN forced out of her home by fire damage has paid tribute to brave firefighters who found her two dogs unconscious in the smoke-filled kitchen.

Natalie Cunningham had just finished work when she arrived home at Bunyard Street, Cheetham, to discover the fire brigade, her front door open and her two pets lying motionless in the street.

Tragically, smaller one-year-old Staffordshire cross Mafia died two days later poisoned by smoke inhalation, but after recovering her other dog Pucka escaped with minor burns.

The fire, possibly started by one of the dogs knocking something against a halogen heater, gutted the kitchen and smoke-logged much of the property.

Natalie recalled the horrifying moment she returned home on an otherwise normal Thursday afternoon.

She said: "The dogs were just lying there unconscious in the street with masks on their faces. I was just hysterical, people were trying to pull me away from them."

Pucka and Mafia, who had recently produced a litter of three pups given to new owners, were taken to the RSPCA's Salford clinic, where the smaller dog came round but never recovered.

Natalie said: "She started blinking but couldn't do anything. She was in a really bad way.

"She could fit in my hands - it's weird just not seeing her running around on the grass. The street all miss her too. Everybody has been so good - they're just more bothered about the dogs. But I'm not feeling sorry for myself because I'm alive."

The 28-year-old has now been rehoused in temporary accommodation nearby, but since the blaze she has noticed the normally 'hyperactive' Mastiff cross has been subdued, as if still traumatised.

Four firefighters in breathing apparatus discovered the dogs during a search of the property. They had managed to confine the blaze to an extension and the roof of the adjoining extension next door.

Natalie said: "I want to say a big 'thank you' because they were great. Apparently as soon as they knew there were dogs in there they were straight on it. They gave the dogs oxygen masks and cleaned up after them. And when they were going they wished the dogs well. They were so lovely."

Watch commander Neil Constantine, from Broughton fire station, said: "It would have been a lot worse if the fire had got into the house."