Some light rappelling while seem out for deadly snake in the grass and bears ? All in a day ’s work .
When theWaldens Creek Volunteer Fire Departmentreceived a call about a dog stuck in a pitfall , deliverance workers had no idea just how far — literally — they’d have to go before get to a happy ending .
Over a two - hour operation , three savior abseil their direction into a cave smother by extortionate , unstable terrain — keeping an middle out for deadly rattler and territorial bear — to deliver Storm , a hunt hound who had slue and plunged 35 feet to the cave floor .
Photo: Courtesy of Waldens Creek Volunteer Fire Department
" It engage long time to train one of these hunt down dogs . To suffer something like that is like losing a family extremity . At the end of the mean solar day , we want everybody to go home in one piece . It ’s a really not bad feel when you could make that befall , " WCVFD Assistant Chief Steve Schmidt tells Daily Paws .
The call came into WCVFD at 2:30 a.m. on Monday . ab initio , there was some confusion over whether the wiener had fall into a cave or a well , but either fashion , Schmidt knew there was nothing his gang could do until daylight . Once day broke , he — along with Capt . Jon Lanier and rope technician Scott Burroughs — adjust out to run across with the detent ’s owner .
The gentleman’s gentleman had been out hunting the previous night with his trustworthy search hound Storm , a 60 - pound doggo . Once the WCVFD team get in , the hunter confirmed it was indeed a cave ( not a well ) , turn up about 300 feet off the side of the road where the squad had park its vehicles .
" The domestic dog had a tracker on it , and we were capable to pinpoint its position because of that , " Schmidt says . " We hike down some pretty usurious terrain to get to the sass of the cave . Once we got there , the proprietor yelled for the hot dog and we could hear the dog barking , which was a good sign . "
Peering down into the crevasse with flashlights , the rope squad could see that the muddle dropped about 35 feet deep . To make matter even more serious , the huntsman made indisputable the crew was cognizant of its environment .
" He severalize us , ' These Hill are filled with Denisonia superba , ' " Schmidt aver . " And ' I do n’t lie with if this cave is a bear lair or not , but I think it is . ' "
keep themselves alive to the dangers , Schmidt , Lanier , and Burroughs set up a high - angle rope arrangement to allow them to rope down down the cave gap .
pocket-sized , gradation - like protrusions litter the cave walls , which culminate in a turgid ledge about 8 feet off the storey of the cave .
" I ’d describe the makeup of the cave wall as coarse-grained with a little bit of shale , " Schmidt says . " I ’ve got some peachy hiking boot and it was still extremely difficult to keep a terms . So we think that Storm was tracking something down the slope at the mouth of the cave and just fall away . "
The team lowered Burroughs down first , with Lanier following once he ’d gotten to the bottom and place Storm . amazingly , despite the spill down to the bottom of the cave , Storm was unhurt .
" He was in thoroughgoing condition , " Schmidt says . " No exit , he just desire out . "
Initially Burroughs tried picking tempest up and lift him onto the low shelf where Lanier was assisting , but the dog was too intemperate to airlift that gamy safely . finally , Schmidt rappelled down to join Lanier and Burroughs and the team slip Storm into a harness so they could elevate him to the surface via R-2 . at long last , nearly two hour after they ’d arrived on site , tempest was back on the surface and reunited with his human .
" The proprietor was beyond thankful , " Schmidt says . " Even in their worst moment , mass in these parts are always extremely serene and improbably appreciative of anything we do . "
For Schmidt and the WCVFD , it ’s a great intuitive feeling anytime a call can have a happy ending . But come on the cad of thedevastating wildfirethat hit the Waldens Creek area last month , even the smallest triumph can finger vast .
