ST. CATHARINES, Ont. -- A five-year-old girl seriously mauled by a trio of Rottweilers in Pelham is improving in a Toronto hospital, the town’s fire chief says.

Pelham Fire Chief Bob Lymburner said Saturday he was the first person on the scene Friday night after the girl was attacked at a relative’s home on Effingham St. at around 5:30 p.m.

“I live just around the corner from them,” Lymburner said. “I heard the call on the dispatch. I don’t normally respond to calls personally but when I heard the address, I had to go right over.”

The girl is the daughter of Lymburner’s son-in-law’s sister, he said.

Niagara Regional Police Det. Const. Richard Gauthier said Friday the girl was playing with puppies in a barn on the large property when the three adult dogs struck.

Neither the police nor Lymburner would discuss the child’s wounds beyond saying they were extensive. But police did say she was taken to the Welland County General Hospital by ambulance and then by helicopter to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in critical condition.

Lymburner said he spoke to the girl’s family Saturday afternoon and she was scheduled for “more surgery.” He said her condition was improving.

“Everything is looking positive at this point,” said Lymburner, who declined to discuss the incident further without talking to the family.

The dogs that attacked the girl were taken from the Effingham St. property by the Welland and District Humane Society.

However, the humane society declined to comment on the case Saturday.

A single NRP cruiser remained at the Effingham St. home Saturday. A member of the family at the home declined to comment, saying only that the girl’s parents were with her in Toronto.

Pelham is located about 20 km west of Niagara Falls.