Two dogs were transported to the veterinarian’s office by their owner after an apartment fire on the 1400 block of E. Third Street Thursday morning.
Firefighters with the Long Beach Fire Department responded to a call for a structure fire at 8:50 a.m. The fire was contained to one apartment and was quickly knocked down, according to Battalion Chief Cory Fackiner.
Marissa García, a neighbor, ran over to the apartment where the fire took place after smelling the smoke.
“I went to knock on the door; the smoke was coming out of the apartment,” said García , whose children were in the apartment upstairs getting ready for school.
When García and another neighbor tried to open the door to the apartment, they realized it was blocked by two pitbulls.
The owner took possession of the dogs, who suffered from smoke inhalation, after the fire department fed them additional oxygen through a special mask fitted for cat and dog snouts.
The condition of the dogs is unknown, but “they were seemingly OK,” according to a fire department spokesperson.