Efforts to Save Canine Quake Victim Fail : Aftermath: Despite being airlifted for dialysis at UC Davis, Bimbo the German shepherd dies of her severe burns.

The top-of-the-line treatment she got failed to save Bimbo.

Bimbo was the German shepherd severely burned when her master’s truck was enveloped in a fireball from a ruptured natural gas line in Granada Hills shortly after the Jan. 17 quake.

Despite being airlifted to UC Davis for dialysis--which she needed because burns over 50% of her body caused kidney failure--and an offer of skin grafts at the prestigious Sherman Oaks Hospital burn center, Bimbo died Sunday.

Veterinarians at UC Davis, which has the state’s only facility for dog dialysis, said the 2-year-old shepherd’s condition began to deteriorate late Friday, prompting them to begin treatment Saturday afternoon. She improved briefly the next morning, but her heart failed at 12:30 p.m., they said.

A university news release said she probably died of a blood clotting disorder common to burn patients.

“We gave it the college try,” said Dr. A. Robert Grossman, head of the Sherman Oaks Hospital’s burn ward, who helped coordinate the dog’s care and had offered to perform free skin grafts on Bimbo himself. “I don’t know if we would have had any better chances with a human.”

Bimbo and another dog, Shep, were riding in the bed of a pickup truck driven by their master, Jim Menzi, a Simi Valley mechanic, a few hours after the quake. The truck stalled in a cloud of gas from the broken main under Rinaldi Street and Balboa Boulevard, and when he tried to restart the engine, flames engulfed him and the two dogs.

Shep was killed, but the badly burned Menzi and Bimbo leaped into a pool of water escaping from a broken fire hydrant. Menzi, who was trying to get to Santa Clarita to check on his mother, continued on foot. Bimbo turned up at a shelter for earthquake victims, where Menzi’s name and phone number were found on her collar.

Menzi was hospitalized for several days after the accident with burns over 30% of his body but was released a few weeks ago. He is in good condition and will not need skin grafts, his physician, Dr. Daryl Carpenter, said Monday.