Firefighters rescue dog from sinkhole in Buffalo, NY
Buffalo, New York firefighters rescued Mack on Sunday during an hour long operation. He’s a German Shepherd who fell into the same sinkhole his owner Mattie Moore had just fallen into around 5:00 a.m.
It was still dark outside when she got to MLK Park, near East Parade Street. She noticed the sidewalk was flooded so she went onto the snow-covered grassy area in the park instead. All of a sudden, boom, she fell into a 10-foot-deep sinkhole.
As she tried to pull herself out, her loyal dog Mack fell into the hole head first as he tried to save his owner. She got out of the hole but couldn’t help her dog so she called 911. The police and fire department showed up quickly about five minutes later.
We are trained in these types of rescues. We have the equipment to perform these rescues. We just don’t see them a lot,” Battalion Chief Mark Hillery said.
After an attempt to harness the German Shepherd didn’t work, plan B involved a firefighter going down into the sinkhole to rescue the dog.
That’s when Mike Paveljack volunteered.
“Late last year I lost a dog. His name was Scooter and he was very important to my family. So I could see how the lady felt. So when our Chief asked for someone to get into a harness to go down and get this dog, I jumped at the opportunity,” the firefighter said.
