AUSTINTOWN — A family watches as their home is destroyed by a fire. Clothes, furniture and photographs become nothing more than memories among the ashes.

Making a tragic situation even worse occurs when beloved pets become victims and are lost in the blaze as well.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, more than 40,000 four-legged “family members” die each year from smoke inhalation. Austintown Fire Department Lt. Nicholas Heitzer explained how pets are affected differently in a fire than their owners.

“Smoke has carbon monoxide and very poisonous gases in it. When a structure fire happens and pets are exposed to smoke like that, they become unconscious. For a human, if we were to inhale a little bit of carbon monoxide, we would get sick first. Pets are smaller and it can happen a lot faster,” Heitzer said.

Knowing the price paid by an inability to supply pure oxygen for a dog, cat, rabbit, hamster and other animals, fire departments need specially designed masks that go over the snout. Since those are not provided among the first responders’ standard emergency equipment, local charities aim to make up the difference.

On Saturday, Legacy Dog Rescue and Never Muzzled collaborated on a community pet oxygen mask fundraiser to provide these life-saving items for fire stations in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

Quaker Steak & Lube’s Austintown location hosted the event, which featured raffles with 96 baskets, a handful of vendors who donated a portion of their sales to the cause, an Austintown Fire Department truck with two first responders available to answer questions plus Fill the Truck with Pet Food wherein a person donated 12 cans or 10 pounds of dog/cat food and received a chance to win a gift card.

More than 700 pounds of pet food was collected. Organizers said approximately $30,000 was raised, which is enough to purchase 240 masks. They said that will cover all of Mahoning and Trumbull counties, plus some extras for a few other fire departments.

Several baskets raised money to help community pets with food assistance, spay/neuters and medical needs.

Never Muzzled operates out of Newton Falls and hosted a similar fundraiser in 2016. “We covered as many fire departments as we could,” said Linda Liguori, president of the nonprofit. “Then, some of the fire departments reached out to us, saying, ‘We’ve either lost our kits or parts are missing.’ That’s when Legacy and Never Muzzled got together and we decided to host this fundraiser.”

“We want multiple trucks to have kits and ensure each station has, at minimum, one set,” said Jenn Overmier, president of the nonprofit Legacy Dog Rescue.

For the departments who received the kits in the past, she said, “The response has been very grateful and appreciative.”

Legacy Dog Rescue operates out of Youngstown.

“We take in dogs from various situations, get them the vetting they need and training needed, get to know them and then look for the right placement for the dog,” Overmier said. “We also assist the community with spay/neuters, pet food and medical needs.”

Never Muzzled has a different approach than Legacy wherein it doesn’t have a shelter and doesn’t take in pets.

“We only help community pets,” Liguori said. “We do pet food when people need food for their pets. We do low-cost spay and neuter, and we help with medical needs.”

Both organizations serve Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

Heitzer said the Austintown firefighters have had these masks for more than a decade and they hook up normally to the oxygen tank.

He described a recent situation that involved using a pet oxygen mask to save a life.

“About two months ago, we had a structure fire where we found a cat that was minimally breathing. We were able to pull the cat out, get it to safety, deliver it oxygen, and then transport it to a local vet where they were able to revive it. We were able to give it oxygen in the meantime,” he said.

While Saturday’s event was the final fundraiser for the oxygen masks, Liguori mentioned that for those who didn’t make the event, “If somebody would want to sponsor a kit within the next week or two, we would still take their sponsorship and get the mask for the fire department.”

To contact both organizations, go to their Facebook pages.