BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- A structure fire of a single family residence at 39 Spruce Street seemed like an average call until fire and rescue crews began to remove dogs from the structure.

Massena fire responded to the call around 7:30 p.m. on May 20, with assistance from Massena Rescue, Massena Police, Norfolk Fire, Norfolk Rescue, Liberty Utilities and Massena Electric.

"It would have been a pretty standard fire call but with so many dogs involved it required a lot more man power," Massena Fire Chief Pat O'Brien said.

What was first thought to be 10 to 12 dogs turned out to be 37, he said.

"We had eight in the front lawn and another 12 in the back lawn. When we got to 20 we thought for sure that was it," he said.

According to O'Brien, he didn't think the owner of the property even knew how many dogs he had.

"We just kept pulling them out. They weren't small dogs either, most were Australian cattle dogs or a similar breed," he said.

With so many dogs on scene, O'Brien said he was forced to call in Norfolk firefighters for interior work. They were previously standing by at the Massena Fire Station.

Once Norfolk came on scene, Louisville Fire was called in to backfill at the station.

"It was a very labor intensive, manpower intensive call. Had it not been for so many dogs it would have been a pretty average fire call," O'Brien said.

The single family cottage-style home was too small for so many dogs, O'Brien said.

After all was said and done, 37 dogs were retrieved from the fire with 35 saved.

"Unfortunately we did lose two. They were in the room where the fire started, so they likely perished pretty quickly," he said.

O'Brien said the dogs were very lucky that one Massena firefighter is trained in animal CPR.

"He was on scene and I had to take him off interior work to help. Many of them came out in rough shape and barely breathing. We got them oxygen and water and they pulled through," he said.

O'Brien said saving 35 of 37 dogs was a significant feat for the department.

"It was a lot of work, a lot of manpower to pull that off," he said.

O'Brien said the cause of the fire was a malfunctioning dryer, with the fire deemed an accident.

"The owner told us he had been dealing with a malfunctioning dryer for a while. Unfortunately it led to the fire," O'Brien said.

Though the fire is being ruled accidental, O'Brien said it will automatically be sent to code review due to the loss of life of two dogs.

"Anytime there is a loss of life, whether it be a person or animal, it is sent to code review," he said.