LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Firefighters are accustomed to calls asking for them to rescue ducklings. They have helped frantic homeowners with bats. Sometimes, they get cats down from trees.
Tuesday, firefighters in Lancaster County helped an unlikely four-legged friend from an overturned lawn chair.
Lancaster Township firefighters responded to reports of a puppy stuck in a chair on Wilderness Lane. Glenn Usdin, the assistant chief, says the Samoyed pup had gotten its head lodged into a steel lawn chair. The dog could not free itself so the firefighters did what they know best -- and rescued the cute pup.
Using "the jaws of life", which is a hydraulic cutter tool, firefighters made a cut in the chair frame and freed the puppy, which Usdin estimated to be about 7-weeks old.
"I was worried he was having difficulty breathing, but he was totally calm, unconcerned, and didn't know the danger he was in," said Glenn Usdin, the assistant fire chief. "We knew we had to get him out of there before he had trouble breathing. We were happy to get him. It makes everyone happy -- the firefighters who assisted were in a good mood because they helped a pet, and the concerned owners were extremely happy we were able to get the puppy out."
In all, the heroic rescue took less than 5 minutes.
The puppy, who has not been named, is described as the naughty one of the litter. He ran back to his siblings and carried on with his puppy business.
The fire department shared a post of the rescue on Facebook. They wrote, "All good, very happy owners and a warning to the the puppy to stay away from overturned chairs. Humans or animals, we take care of all of our township residents!"
The firefighters say the post has since gone viral, and the department has received hundreds of likes, shares, and even some messages from people outside of the United States.
"A lesson learned is we treat everyone in Lancaster Township, we treat them the same. We do everything in our power to assist them," added Usdin. "It was just a very happy afternoon."
Firefighters are known for responding to fire; however, the motto at Lancaster Township is respond to all hazards. Aren't we happy they did?
