So that’s why they invented mini oxygen masks

updated 1:35 p.m. ET June 20, 2007

POCATELLO, Idaho - Firefighters resuscitated four cats and an albino rat from a charred apartment in southeastern Idaho.

The animals received oxygen through a special mask designed for small animals that the department got two years ago.

Electrical failure likely caused the fire, which resulted in at least $10,000 in damage, fire officials said. No people were injured.

Firefighter Kirby Jonas, who whisked the rat to safety, said he was astonished anything survived the flames that engulfed the apartment. He found the rat huddled in blackened bedding in a cage.

“If I were betting money, I would have put down $10,000 that anything in that cage was dead,” Jonas said. Also in the room was a poster of an albino rat with a halo over its head, he said.

One cat didn’t survive the blaze.

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