FOUR dogs have died after kennels in the garden of a home in Little Hulton caught fire.

But firefighters managed to save the lives of two more dogs by giving them resuscitation, rescuing a further eight together with a heroic neighbour.

Crews from Farnworth and Atherton were called to the blaze in Kenyon Way at about 7.15pm tonight.

One of the family’s 14 dogs, which were housed in wooden kennels in the garden, had jumped and knocked over a heat lamp which set fire to straw on the floor of the kennel.

When the 15 firefighters arrived at the scene, a large fire was raging and flames could be seen over the top of the house.

The family of two adults and six children had managed to get themselves outside despite initial fears for their safety, and a neighbour was attempting to tackle the blaze with a hose.

He had dragged six of the dogs to safety, but could not get close enough to the other kennels because of the ferocity of the flames.

Firefighters searched the house and prevented the fire from spreading to most of the house, although it did cause some damage to the back door and window.

Four dogs were sadly declared dead at the scene by firefighters but a further two which had stopped breathing were pulled from their kennels and resuscitated with oxygen.

One of them – an eight-month-old terrier – was given heart massage by one of the firefighters and brought back to life after his heart had stopped.

MORE:

John Duffin, watch manager at Farnworth fire station, said: “The lads were brilliant.

“The kennels and sheds were well alight when we arrived, but the crews quickly managed to contain the flames.

“We believe the fire started when a dog in one of the kennels jumped and knocked a heat lamp to the floor, which ignited straw on the ground.

“There are always lots of flammable materials in kennels, such as dry straw and try wood, so the fire ripped through all the structures pretty quickly.”

The two dogs which were resuscitated were taken to the vets for emergency treatment and the other surviving animals were being looked after by family members.

Watch manager Duffin added: “Unfortunately, we have had fires where there have been dog fatalities before.

“The type of structures you find dogs in are usually very quick to burn, and once they start burning there is nowhere for the animals to go.

“Owners need to be extremely careful with how they position heat lamps.”

Firefighters left the scene at 9.15pm.

Firefighter Dale Chetto, from Farnworth station, carried out CPR on the young terrier which had no heartbeat when it was pulled from its kennel.

He said: “He was only small, I could hold him in my hand, and when I first pulled him out I could not feel a pulse.

“The heart massage is exactly the same as you would do with an adult, although I put a breathing mask with oxygen in it on him instead of doing mouth to mouth!

“I was doing heart massage for about five minutes until I started feeling a beat in his chest.

“After he had the oxygen for a while I could sense he was breathing on his own, and he eventually started coming round.”

The owner of the dogs said her family were very upset by what had happened but declined to comment further. The neighbour who saved some of the dogs was also too upset to comment.