BEAUMONT, Texas — A pair of mid-county firefighters climbed down into a sewer on Monday evening to save a couple of dogs.
Eleven firefighters from the Jefferson County Water District 10 Volunteer Fire Department responded to a 7:45 p.m. Monday call to help two dogs who were stuck in a sewer, according to fire chief Lance Wood.
"The guy that owned the corner lot was out training his dog and they heard dogs barking and his dog alerted him to where the noise was coming from, and that's what led them to the manhole," said Cathleen Clements, Medical Director at Animal Hospital of Mid County.
Captain Christian Robinson says when he received a call about barking coming from underneath a manhole cover he thought it was unusual. Nonetheless he and his team of volunteer firefighters loaded up to see if they could help.
"At the time, we didn't know there were two (dogs). About 15 minutes of planning and extricating the animals, we were able to get the dogs out safely," said Robinson.
Captain Robinson and firefighter Wayne Cornwell began to climb down into a manhole to rescue the two dogs according to Wood, but quickly noticed something was wrong.
"we're looking at L.E.L levels, methane levels, we deemed it safer for our firefighters and the general public to not go down into the hole to extract the pups," said Cornwell.
Instead the firefighters had to get creative, they used a combination of gear and long reach to finally pull the dogs to safety.
"The dogs were big enough to where we could take a piece of webbing, which is basically a strap that firefighters carry in their pockets, we were able to make a slipknot and put it around the torso of the dog and have firefighter brown reach in there and grab the other end of the animal," said Robison.
The two Labradors appeared to be healthy but were taken to the Nederland Animal Hospital to be checked out, Wood told 12News.
"They actually appeared to be in really good condition. Didn't find any injuries on them," Clements said.
Both dogs are now in the care of the Animal Hospital of Mid County. Clements says the dogs have been well fed and well maintained, suggesting that they belong to someone.
It is currently unknown who owns the dogs.
"They were a little nervous and scared when we found them initially. They absolutely seem like they're really friendly. They've obviously been around people and are used to people," said Clements.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
