EMT-Paramedic Scott Tomek was working for the North Saint Paul fire department on Christmas Eve of 2005. The department was called to a house fire, the home of a family attending church service. As they were putting out the flames, they encountered a minimally responsive 8 year old Australian Shepherd dog, which they later discovered was named “Millie”�. Due to Tomek’s BART training through the Woodbury Public Safety Department, he was prepared to triage and support Millie on-the-scene. The fire department then rushed Millie to the Oakdale Veterinary Emergency Clinic for additional care. Dr. Sue Antes took Millie in and reported that she had suffered from extensive smoke inhalation. However, due to the timely medical care and attention that Millie received, she was quickly stabilized and was able to be reunited with her family on Christmas Day.

A Letter from Millie’s owners, Ernie and Sheila:
On December 24, 2005 my wife and I and her entire family were returning from church to celebrate Christmas. The garage door would not open. We thought that the batteries were dead in the opener, so my wife Sheila went into the house to use the key pad. When she opened the back door a rush of smoke came out at her. She came running back to the car and yelled the house is on fire and the dog is dead. I immediately ran to the back door and pulled Millie out of the house. Millie was unconscious and barely breathing. I did the first thing that came to mind and I started to do mouth to mouth. While I blew into Millie’s nose my father-in-law did chest compressions. After a few minutes Millie’s breathing started to improve but I thought that we were going to lose her. When the fire fighters arrived several men went into the house to put the fire out and two men started to help Millie. One of the fire fighters was Scott Tomek. He immediately started to tell us how to help Millie. First we wet her down to get the smoke out of her fur and then he started to give her oxygen. After a few minutes they said that they could best help Millie by taking her to the emergency vet in Oakdale. Much to our surprise they rushed her there for us as my wife followed in our car. A few hours later I was able to get to the vets and Millie was up and doing much better. They kept her over night for observation and the next morning we went to visit her and she was doing great. She was eating and acting normal and we were able to take her home. Two days later we took her to her regular vet and they were amazed that there was no damage to her lungs from the smoke.
Just recently we found out that Scott Tomek, the firefighter that worked on Millie had been through the BART training and that the skills that he learned are what saved Millie. If he had not been there and had this special training Millie would have died. Thank You!

From all the BART volunteers - Thanks for writing, Ernie, Sheila and Millie!