BELFAST, Maine — Man’s best friend was rescued and resuscitated in Belfast on Tuesday when firefighters saved a dog’s life after pulling him from a burned camper.
Sterling is a 3-year-old Lab mix and he’s a very lucky dog.
Belfast firefighter and EMT Fred Ehman says crews quickly put out the fire at a camper around 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday and then found Sterling inside.
“When I first saw him I thought he was going to have to be euthanized, that’s how bad shape he was,” Scott Saucier, Sterling’s owner, said.
Without hesitation, Ehman and the others strapped an oxygen mask onto Sterling and got to work. “Held the mask on the dog, kept rubbing him, talking to him, I didn’t know his name at the time until his owner showed up,” Ehman said.
Saucier spent 10 long minutes watching and waiting. “Just makes me sick to my stomach because my animals are like my kids,” Saucier said.
Slowly, Sterling started to move again. “The owner sat back. I just kept talking to him then his tail starts wagging,” Ehman said.
Sterling was rushed to the Searsport Veterinary Hospital with burns on his nose, plastic melted on his fur and suffering from smoke inhalation. He’s still recovering, but is expected to go home on Wednesday. “They said five minutes more in there he wouldn’t have made it,” Saucier said.
It’s the first dog Ehman has saved in over four decades as an EMT. “It feels pretty good, really no different than a person. Hey, they’re alive. They’re well and they’re walking, it works for me,” Ehman said.
Saucier is grateful Sterling is still here to help tell the tale.