It’s hard for property owners to lose their homes to fire, but Joe Alf and Jon Schultz have seen people endure the additional pain of losing beloved pets. Although the number of pets that die in fires isn’t an official statistic kept by the U.S. Fire Administration, industry websites and sources estimate 40,000 to 150,000 pets die in fires each year, many succumbing to smoke inhalation. “You do the best you can to get them out,” said Schultz, deputy chief of emergency medical services for the Eau Claire Fire Department. “But you can’t always save them.”