Tag: firefighters save dog

Firefighters Rescue 14-Year-Old Bulldog Trapped in Well for 4 Days

Lassie wasn’t around to alert the owner of Angus, a blind, 14-year-old English Bulldog, that her dog had fallen into a well, but luckily firefighters from Costa Mesa, Calif., came to the rescue of the elderly pooch.

Angus fell into the 10-foot well in his backyard four days ago, KCBS reports. His dog mom, Robyn Hubbard, said Angus hadn’t barked and she wasn’t even aware there was a well in her yard. A neighbor discovered it while helping her search for Angus.

“She started crawling around and all of a sudden she’s like, ‘Did you know about this hole?'” Hubbard told KCBS. “And I said, ‘What hole? What are you talking about?'”

Angus, who has no eyes, hadn’t been in the backyard for a year. “He can’t even really walk from the bed to the den,” Hubbard said. He’d suffered several seizures earlier this week, and she thought he may have wandered off somewhere to die.

“Obviously, he’s not on his last legs like I thought he was,” she told KCBS.

An Hour-Long Rescue Effort

To free Angus, the firefighters dug an access hole next to the well. One of the firefighters was then lowered head first into the well to pick up the dog. The rescue effort took almost an hour.

After being reunited with his grateful dog mom, firefighters were nice enough to transport both of them to a local animal hospital, where Angus was evaluated.

Amazingly, Angus was dehydrated but had no broken bones and is in good condition, KCBS reports. In a photo tweeted about two hours after his ordeal, the old boy appears to be resting comfortably at the animal hospital.

Busy Week for Southern California Firefighters

This has been a terrible, busy week for Southern California firefighters due to the devastating Blue Cut Fire and other wildfires made worse by the state’s severe drought.

Just a few days ago, a dog who’d been “sheltering in place” near a burning structure in the Blue Cut Fire ran and leaped into the arms of Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mike Mohler. Thank you, firefighters, and stay safe!

Photo via Twitter

Three Poodles Survive Illinois House Explosion

The very same day two Dachshunds miraculously survived a house fire in Pennsylvania, three Standard Poodles in Illinois miraculously survived when the house they lived in blew up due to a natural gas leak.

As with the Dachshunds, the Poodles were initially thought to have been killed Saturday. The three dogs were in kennels in the basement of the house in Caseyville, and had no way of escaping. The homeowner and his son and daughter-in-law, who are Poodle breeders, were not home at the time of the explosion.

“If anyone had been inside, they would not have survived,” Hollywood Heights Fire Dept. Chief Buddy Moore told KTVI Saturday.

Sunday afternoon, next-door neighbor Larry Arnold — who happens to work for the fire department — was in his front yard, talking to other neighbors, when he heard something.

“I said, ‘Shut up, you guys, I hear those dogs crying,’” Arnold told the Belleville News-Democrat. “They said I was crazy. We walked over there and those dogs got real quiet because they must have been scared. But then they started barking.”

Arnold called Moore, and six firefighters soon arrived with a backhoe to dig out the Poodles. About two feet of water covered the basement floor.

St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons told the News-Democrat one of the kennels had been partially crushed. Firefighters cut it open to rescue the Poodle inside it.

“I couldn’t believe they were still alive because of the explosion, the heat of the fire and then they almost drowned,” Arnold told the News-Democrat. “But it was probably the water that saved them from the heat.”

A fourth dog, thought to be an Australian Shepherd, ran out of the house after the explosion, neighbor Darlene Jonas told the News-Democrat. That dog has not been found.

Photos via Twitter; Facebook

Two Dachshunds Found Alive Day After Pennsylvania House Fire

When their house in East Fallowfield Township, Pa., went up in flames late Saturday afternoon, a family thought they had not only lost their home, but two precious four-legged family members as well.

According to WPVI, investigators believe the two-alarm fire was started by someone smoking. Two women in the house were able to escape without injury, but their two Dachshunds were left behind. It took firefighters about half an hour to put out the flames.

As the family mourned their losses Sunday morning, someone spotted the Dachshunds sitting in what remained of a second-floor bedroom.

Modena Fire Company Chief Frank Dowlin happened to be finishing a report on the fire when he got a call from the East Fallowfield Police Department.

“They’re alive,” Dowlin was told, according to a news release he wrote today.

Firefighters and the relieved family rushed to the house. Once they got there, “it was truly a great sight,” Dowlin wrote.

“Standing at the rear of the house, looking through the large hole, there they were — tails a-wagging, looking down at their owners.”

Firefighter Charlie Johnson climbed a ladder and, attached to a rope, entered the unstable structure, walking across the bedroom to the dogs. One at a time, he scooped up the dogs brought them to firefighter Justin Carlo, who carried each of them down the ladder.

“The dogs were amazingly both doing well and, after a reunion with their owners, were cleaned up a little, and given water and food by neighbors, and then spent some time running around the yard,” Dowlin wrote.

“The event was truly a miracle to witness. Our crews were glad to bring a little happiness to the family.”

Photos via Twitter; Twitter

Firefighters Save Poodle with Paw Stuck in Bathtub Drain

This has been kind of a busy week for dogs getting themselves into sticky situations.

On Friday, a Pit Bull mix named Jimma somehow managed to get her head stuck in a tire rim. Two crews from the Indianapolis Fire Department worked for more than an hour to free her.

Over on the West Coast Tuesday afternoon, a Poodle mix in Costa Mesa, Calif., got his paw stuck in the bathtub drain. (As if the bath itself wasn’t bad enough!)

Using a sledgehammer and chisel, three crew members from the Costa Mesa Fire Department worked for 40 minutes to open the drain and safely free the dog’s paw.

“The dog would bark and bite very time we tried to move it, just from pain,” Fire Capt. Nick Cerciello told the Daily Pilot.

The dog was apparently okay after his ordeal, and was even able to bolt down the apartment’s stairs as the family’s kids cheered.

“Didn’t have a limp or anything,” Cerciello told the Daily Pilot. Nevertheless, he advised the pet parents to have the dog checked out by a veterinarian.

“Sometimes it can be a ruff job,” the Costa Mesa Fire Department noted on its Facebook page yesterday.

Another Poodle, Another Stuck Paw

Strangely enough, a Poodle named Morita found herself in this exact same predicament 11 months ago.

A crew from the Albuquerque Fire Department cut open the bathtub and removed the drain — with Morita’s paw still stuck inside it. She was rushed to a vet, who was able to free her. Morita wasn’t seriously injured, but suffered pain from her swollen paw.

Don’t Let This Happen to Your Dog!

The takeaway from both these incidents? Be sure to use a drain cover when you give your dog a bath, and remove your dog from the tub before draining the water.

Photos via Twitter

Rock Climber Rescues Doberman Trapped Deep in NY State Park Crevice

During an walk early Monday evening at Clark Reservation, a state park in upstate New York, a 1-year-old Doberman named Remy fell through snow into a deep crevice.

“She kind of just disappeared,” her dog mom, Keanna Rose, told Syracuse.com. “One second she was there and one second she was gone.”

Remy, who was unleashed and wandering off the main trail, fell about halfway into the 20-foot-deep hole. Her head was wedged between the rocks, with her legs sticking up behind her, Rose said.

“She was whimpering,” Rose told Syracuse.com. “You could tell she was in pain and she was scared.”

Rose and her boyfriend called for help.

A group of firefighters from the Jamesville and Pompey Hill fire departments, along with volunteers, worked for nearly eight hours trying, unsuccessfully, to use a rope to free Remy. It was especially difficult since the opening of the crevice was only about a foot wide.

During their rescue efforts, it started raining, and Remy fell even farther down the hole. The rescuers had to use a mirror to see the dog.

Just after midnight, a VMC employee called Nate Farrington, who does vertical caving and rock climbing, hoping he could assist.

Using a rope, Farrington was able to descend into the crevice.

“The only thing I was finally able to do was get a catch pole loop around her neck area after I entered the crevice and, once we finally freed her from the position she was in, another loop went around her legs to take some of the pressure off her neck,” Farrington wrote in an email. “It wasn’t ideal, but it was the only option we were left with as time drew on.”

Jeff Kunsman, one of the volunteers, told CNY Central, “To have somebody who was able to come in and fit down the hole and be able to get [her] was absolutely key to the situation.”

Remy was taken to the Veterinary Medical Center of CNY and treated for her injuries. She was released from the hospital yesterday.

“Remy is now home with her family! She is still having a hard time walking, but we are still hopeful [for] a full recovery!” Rose wrote on a GoFundMe.com page she created to help with Remy’s veterinary bills. As of this morning, $250 of her $1,500 goal has been raised.

“I think the public has done enough for them in this instance of their chosen carelessness,” wrote “Fed_up1978” in a comment on the Syracuse.com story. “Had the dog been on a leash none of this would have happened. The tax payers already funded the rescue. The vet bills are their responsibility. It’s a consequence of their choice to break the leash rules!”

Karen M. donated $20 via the GoFundMe.com page. “Here’s to a speedy recovery and a harness for your future adventures!” she wrote.

Dogs are required to be leashed in Clark Reservation. Hopefully Remy’s — and all — pet parents will follow this rule in the future.

Photos via GoFundMe.com

The part of this story describing Nate Farrington’s rescue of Remy has been corrected — he did not use a harness to free Remy, as I originally wrote.

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