Good Job and Great PR

[MarcusKspn]

This is a department in my part of the state. We could easily argue if animal rescue like this should even be the job for a fire department, but they did what needed to be done and the PR from this is priceless:

Via KFOR
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EDMOND, Okla. -- Talk about a struggle for survival. One dog in Edmond recently found herself without food or water for four days outside in this sweltering summer heat! She was trapped with no hope of escape.

At first, the dog could be heard yelping and barking.

But no matter how hard neighbors searched, they couldn't find her.

So, for days she remained stuck underneath a riverbank waiting for her rescue.

Greg Kinney owns the property and helped discover the dog.

He said, "She chased a rabbit down the rabbit hole."

He eventually found the dog by wading in the creek in his backyard.

She could only be seen if he looked from the surface of the water.

The hole she was stuck sideways inside was extremely small.

Kinney said, "As soon as I saw it, my heart sank because I thought, there's no way. It's going to be impossible to get this dog out."

He called for backup and out came the Oak Cliff Fire Department.

Volunteer Firefighter Blake Hutsenpiller said, "It was about three and a half hours, five of us, shovels, a chainsaw and some prying tools to finally get her out."

Kinney said, "One of the guys was able to reach in and grab the dog's paws and yank as hard as he could and the dog kind of slid out. It's a complete miracle. Her name should be 'Lucky.'"

The dog is currently being fostered by Kinney's neighbor and she is now up for adoption.

[LaFireEducator]

Nice job.

It's the kind of thing that makes a community feel good about the fire department.

Likely it will prove to be a very valuable incident should they need the voters approval for a bond or a tax increase for fire protection.

[EastKyFF]

I used to think, "Screw ol' Rover/Trigger/Bessie/whoever. I won't risk humans to save a critter." But it has since occurred to me that even though Fluffy isn't a human, he/she is still property of our citizens and we already endanger our lives to protect other property, so I can accept it when circumstances are acceptable.

Also, an animal rescue isn't just resolution of one emergency. It can very well be prevention of another emergency when humans do dopey things to try to rescue an animal without proper training. To wit:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/hotspring.asp