Oct 10, 2007
Dog falls down well
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by PATRICIA GAY
A Labrador dog is running around today as if nothing happened, thanks to the efforts of firefighters who rescued it from the bottom of an abandoned well.
Animal Control Officer Mark Harper received a call on Friday, Oct. 5, that a dog had fallen down a well in the back yard of a residence on Smith Farm Road.
When Mr. Harper arrived, he heard the dog barking from the bottom of the well, which measured three feet by three feet in diameter and was 22 feet deep.
The sides of the well were made of poured concrete and it was topped with a wooden cover. The cover had rotted through, and Mr. Harper believes it broke when the dog walked across it, landing the dog in about a foot and a half of water at the bottom of the well.
Mr. Harper lowered a catch pole to try to reach the dog, but it was too short, so he called the Weston Volunteer Fire Department for assistance.
Fire Chief John Pokorny and about 12 other firefighters arrived on the scene along with Rescue Truck 5. Sensing that the dog was OK from the sound of his barks, the first thing they did was test the air in the well. “We found the oxygen level was lower than normal, so we utilized a special fan that blew air in,” Mr. Pokorny said.
They lowered a ladder into the well and a firefighter climbed down and scooped up the dog, which weighed about 65 pounds. He slowly brought the dog back to the top. “The dog actually helped climb up the ladder with its paws,” Mr. Pokorny said.
Back on terra firma, the dog was dirty, but, except for a small cut on its face, was uninjured and was soon running around the yard again.
Mr. Pokorny hopes this incident will serve as a warning to others who have old and abandoned wells on their property. “This was a dog rescue, but it just as well could have been a child or adult who fell through that wooden cover. There are a lot of old abandoned wells in town, and they are dangerous. They should be filled in with gravel, or at the very least have a solid cement cover on them. Wood is not acceptable,” he said.
This also marked the fifth dog rescue in town in the past 18 months; two were rescued after falling through thin ice, one was rescued from under a porch and another was rescued after being trapped under a shed.
“I am getting used to working as a team with the fire department on these rescues,” Mr. Harper said.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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