South Philly Review

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When three pit bulls were rescued from a two-alarm fire a few months ago, they had somewhere to go because of Jen Leary.

“It’s something we’ve always done. We were just born that way,” Leary said of the caring efforts of her and twin sister, Marion. “We’re just into helping animals and nonprofits. Even when we were little, we’d do stuff with Greenpeace or help the animals.”

Leary, who lives at 20th and Carpenter streets, began Red Paw Emergency Relief Team, an animal-care service that is called to the scene of fires when animals need rescuing, treatment or a place to go.

“Essentially, I just felt helpless as a firefighter,” Leary said. “At a fire with the Red Cross, I couldn’t do anything for the animals. Especially with the Red Cross, we would be assisting the people and giving them shelter and food, everything they need but leaving them stranded as far as the animals. Other volunteers felt the same way and would do stuff when they could.”

Starting as a volunteer with the Red Cross, Leary transitioned to firefighter duty full-time and felt at the same loss when a family’s home was devastated and there was no system to get care for the animals. Her answer was to form Red Paw, a response system that arrives at the scene and makes sure the animals are given the care they need and deserve.

“If we come across an animal that needs medical care, we put a call out to an emergency call list with volunteer vets on it,” the 34-year-old said. “There are lot of Penn vet students and we put that call out and they’ll meet us on scene if [the animals] need to be evaluated ASAP.”

Leary then brings most of the rescued animals to her home, which serves as the temporary shelter while the extent of the aid needed is assessed. Animals are then returned to the families or given to foster homes.

“The American Red Cross calls us or the Salvation Army called us a few times; PAWS [Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society] and ACCT [Animal Care and Control Team] people have called when people showed up there from fires trying to surrender pets,” she said. “Individuals have called us — who found us on Facebook or our website. I get calls and e-mails every day from people needing assistance with domestic violence, being evicted, deployed or whatever.

“We’re just so new and it falls outside our mission statement, but we’re getting out there so people are knowing who to call.”

Despite responding to all fire calls herself, Leary has been able to manage the workload in addition to her full-time job. And the results have been very rewarding.

“We had rescued three pit bulls and a cat in a two-alarm fire in West Philly a couple months ago. Their owners, they lost everything and they have nothing and we still haven’t found a place for the dogs and cat,” she said. “One dog, DeeDee, had complications from smoke inhalation and she was rushed to the hospital and had to have very expensive medical treatment … and we didn’t have the funds to assist.

“I put a thing on Facebook about it and within hours we had enough money to cover everything.”

Leary grew up in Northeast Philly, where she and Marion spent hours helping people and animals alike.

“Right after high school, my sister and I moved to Center City when we were 17,” Leary said. “We were working for HIV/AIDS nonprofits doing special events. We did that for five years for a couple different organizations.”

The sisters, who were both vegetarians since the age of 13, always loved animals.

“It was pretty much wanting to help people and I wasn’t really sure how else to do it,” Leary said of her newest venture. “I’ve always been more of a leader than a follower — get out and start doing something, just do it.”

Soon enough Leary decided to try for a job with the Philadelphia Fire Department. While she waited for approval of her application, she volunteered with the American Red Cross. Six years later, she is still doing that among her other commitments.

“I was the Saturday coordinator for the disaster action team. I respond when people are displaced by fires,” she said. “Then I was a disaster instructor and trainer, a whole bunch of stuff.”