In many rural areas, there’s no access to emergency veterinary care. That’s why it falls to first responders to provide first aid.

Recently, a veterinarian in the remote area of Sitka, Alaska, was invited to teach a pet first aid workshop at the Alaska Fire Conference. Firefighters were shown how to recognize respiratory distress in dogs and cats, and then how to perform CPR and administer oxygen.

Firefighters are already proficient in providing emergency care — they just need to know how to modify the techniques for animals. Participants were also given oxygen masks and breathing tubes to take back to their communities.

The timing of the training was spot on. One week later, when a typhoon hit Western Alaska, many pets were separated from their families and required care.