San Bernardino County Fire rescued a dog after he was swept away in rushing water on Monday.
Seamus, a 1-year-old Australian Shepperd, was on a walk with his owner when he ran away and ended up near a flood control basin. Before his owner could grab him, the dog was quickly swept away in the rushing water.
A worker at a nearby RV facility saw the dog floating down the channel and called rescue crews.
The dog floated nearly 1 mile down the channel until he got stuck in a storm drain.
When firefighters arrived to the scene, they were able to retrieve dog by ladder and bring him to safety.
The dog was unharmed and brought back to the fire station to be warmed up and dried off.
Firefighters were able to contact the Australian Shepperd's owners by his tags and they were reunited.
Crews Rescue Dog after being Swept Away into Storm Drain
Yesterday San Bernardino crews were dispatched to a public service call for a dog lost in a storm drain.
Seamus a one year old Australian Shepard was swept away in a storm drain after running away from his owner on a walk. Before his dog mom could grab him, he found his way into an adjacent flood control basin and began floating away in fast moving waters. The owners began searching & crews were dispatched to assist.
Firefighters arrived in the area working to locate the dog in the storm drain. While canvassing the area ME231 was flagged down by an employee at a RV facility on East Redlands Blvd. The employee had heard a dog barking in the nearby channel & witnessed the dog floating down the channel. He followed Seamus and observed the dog had found a way out of the water into an access tube nearby. Firefighters were flagged down & found Seamus in the tube staring back at them. He traveled nearly a mile from when he entered the storm drain. He miraculously made it out of the fast moving water & was stuck at the bottom of the tube.
Firefighters quickly made access to the dog, bringing him up the ladder to safety. After assessing the dog he seemed uninjured & in good spirits.
Upon investigating they found Seamus had a dog tag with an address & phone number in nearby Loma Linda. The crew took Seamus with them in the fire engine, drying & warming him up on the way to his house. Once arriving firefighters made contact with his worried owners & reunited the family back together. Seamus was equipped with both Apple AirTag & a conventional ID Tag which aided rescuers and owners in tracking the pup and reuniting them.
While we would have loved to make Seamus a fire station pup, glad we could reunite the dog back with his owners.
#ProudtoServe
Amy Maetzold is a digital producer at KCAL News. She started her journalism career in Wisconsin where she was a producer at NBC15 and Spectrum News 1. Before coming to KCAL, Amy covered news in Santa Barbara at KEYT, winning a group Emmy Award for team coverage on the Alisal Fire.
