"We don't know how long she had been down there," said Fire Captain Jason R. Shivers. "Her owners heard her barking and went looking for her." They found her 35 feet down in 55-degree water. "When we first got to the scene, her voice was raspy. You can tell she was gasping for air," Captain Shivers said. "That far down you're going to have a reduced oxygen environment and other gases like methane, which is a very common gas in the North Georgia area. It's a very dangerous situation."
That's why they took no chances. About 20 firefighters came to the hound's rescue including "our technical rescue team, two engine companies, one [ladder] truck company, one heavy rescue company, a battalion chief, and EMS on standby for our firefighters safety," he said.
"This kind of operation is extremely manpower intensive," said Captain Shivers. "It doesn't matter if we rescue a dog or a cat or person or a fellow firefighter. We must have rescuers in place to rescue the rescuers should an accident occur or one of us becomes incapacitated. We must have those things in place before we begin putting personnel in danger."
One of those things included potentially protecting firefighter Keith Pertschi from Lucy. "You never know how an animal is going to be react," Captain Shivers said. "She did not act aggressively in the least. She was very calm. While we were setting up the operation, she was barking as if she was trying to communicate with us. [But] once our firefighter began to descend the well, she quit barking completely, as if she knew we were going to come get her."
When Pertschi pulled her up, Captain Shivers said "her paws were cut up and bleeding where she had been trying to use the sides of the well to hold herself up as best as she could. She was nearing the point of total exhaustion as we reached her." She was so tired that, for at least a few hours afterwards, she couldn't stand on her own. But she was happy. She was glad to be rescued," said Captain Shivers. "You could see it in her face."
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