“He never gave up on my Nalu!”
When Crystal Lamirande arrived home to a raging house fire, only one thing mattered: her pup, Nalu. “You have to save him!” she pleaded—and one devoted, dog-loving fireman went to work to do just that . . .
As she arrived home, Crystal Lamirande’s neighbor, Karri, raced over to her in the parking lot of their complex.
“There’s a fi re! I called 911!” he shouted. “Nalu is in there!” Crystal cried. Crystal had had Nalu, her beloved 10-year- old Shih Tzu-bichon Frise mix, since he was just four months old. Usually, when the Santa Monica, California, radiology nurse wasn’t working, she took him everywhere. But she’d just run to grab coffee before their daily walk along the beach.
My dog is in there! You have to save him! He’s my baby!
“We have to get him out!” Crystal panicked, racing to the building with Karri close behind.
But when Karri pushed open the door, a wave of choking smoke pushed them back.
“Nalu!” Crystal shouted inside, yet he didn’t come running. There wasn’t even a whimper.
Just then, Engine 1 of the Santa Monica Fire Department roared up.
“My dog is in there! You have to save him! He’s my baby!” Crystal cried.
Slipping into his protective gear, fi refighter Andrew Klein dashed toward the front door. “I’ll fi nd him,” he promised. Crystal thought of how, during thunderstorms, terrified Nalu curled up on the white fur rug beside her bed.
“Check my room!” Crystal blurted.
While the rest of his team battled the blaze, Andrew crawled into Crystal’s bungalow to stay below the smoke.
Still unable to see more than a few inches ahead, he bumped into a table. But a dog-lover— he had two pups of his own, Adeline and Duke—andrew knew: Every pet’s life is precious!
So when he reached the fur rug and found Nalu lying lifeless, Andrew’s heart dropped. Scooping him up, he pushed through the smoke to get back outside.
Crystal screamed when Andrew emerged, seeing Nalu’s fur scorched and his head lolling lifelessly.
“No! No! No!” she sobbed in anguish, but Andrew didn’t stop until he reached a grassy spot. Deftly, he retrieved an oxygen tank and a special pet- size mask every Santa Monica engine company carries.
“C’mon, boy— breathe!” he coaxed, turning the valve to maximum. There was no response. Tears spilled down Crystal’s cheeks as she watched the fi reman remove the oxygen mask.
“Nalu!” she wept— and then she watched as Andrew did something unexpected.
Andrew rolled Nalu onto his back, clamped the pup’s jaw shut with one hand and began offering “mouth to snout” resuscitation. With the other, he began CPR chest compressions.
After several breaths and compressions, Andrew paused and gripped the top of Nalu’s hind leg, where he felt for the femoral pulse. After leasing a new apartment, Crystal’s fi rst purchase was a new white fur rug for Nalu. And today, they are back to enjoying walks along the beach. Recently, they visited the fi rehouse, Nalu dressed in a fi refighter costume! “I’m so grateful. You never gave up until you saved Nalu!” Crystal told Andrew as Nalu wagged his tail. But Andrew remains modest. “Nalu’s really the one who never gave up. Every dog’s a fighter when it comes to love!”
“Breath is the finest gift of nature. Be grateful for this wonderful gift.” Amit Ray
Usually a dog’s pulse beats fast and steady as a small child’s. Nalu’s was barely detectable and beating less than a dozen times per minute. But there
was a pulse. There was hope!
As the rest of his unit got the fi re under control, Andrew continued performing CPR and mouth-tosnout breathing on Nalu for 10, 15, then 20 minutes. And just then, it happened.
“Did you see that? His tongue moved!” Crystal marveled.
Andrew felt a slight rise and fall of Nalu’s chest. “He’s breathing. And his pulse is getting stronger!” he said.
Andrew grabbed the mask and gave Nalu a boost of oxygen. The dog’s eyes fluttered open, glassy and confused.
“Nalu!” Crystal buried her face in his fur.
Turning to Andrew, she beamed, “You risked your life to save my Nalu! You never gave up. He’s alive, thanks to you!”
“Giving up was never an option,” Andrew answered.
Crystal’s neighbor Jenaver drove her and Nalu to an animal hospital, where they rushed the pup into an oxygen chamber to recover from smoke inhalation.
“He’ll need 24 hours, but he will make a full recovery,” the vet determined, and spotting his mama through the chamber window, Nalu pressed a paw to the glass as if to say: I’ll be right here waiting for you.