Plymouth Fire Department Rescues Puppy Trapped In Ceiling Using Thermal Imaging

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) --  It's a rescue unlike any other the Plymouth Fire Department has performed. The victim was a newborn Shih Tzu.

Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield explains how firefighters used a unique hack to save the puppy.

It's no secret, firefighters face many obstacles. This was a new one: a puppy in a pickle.

He crawled through some open plumbing near a tub and got stuck in the ceiling.

"We had no idea where the puppy was at.  We could hear it but it was hard to tell exactly where it was at," Battalion Chief Tom Evenson explained.

After all, it was a pint-sized pup.

"Very cute, I don't know, the size of about a Chipotle burrito," Firefighter John Lonsbury said. "The puppy was about two weeks old, less than a month for sure."

Firefighters had to get creative to find this puppy, so they tried something they hadn't before. They pulled out the thermal imaging camera and that's how they were able to spot the pup.

"This is basically what I saw was a white faint blotch like that," Evenson explained.

Once they spotted the image, they carefully cut through the roof.

"We all took turns holding the guy, it was hard to let go of the puppy," Lonsbury said.

Firefighters told us the pup is safe and sound. The whole rescue took about 20 minutes.