Seymour Fire Department
Nicky reunited with her owner.
SEYMOUR – Firefighters rescued a dog that had run into a culvert beneath the train tracks in Seymour on Wednesday (Jan. 8).
The dog, a one-year-old shih tzu named Nicky, was reunited with its owner after an hourlong rescue effort off of the 200 block of South Main Street.
According to Seymour Fire Marshal Timm Willis, he was driving along Main Street at around 3:25 p.m. when the vehicle in front of him stopped for a lost dog.
“A passerby stopped for a dog in the road running back and forth between traffic. I happened to actually be behind that vehicle and stopped to assist,” Willis said. “While I was trying to direct traffic, the dog ran down a cliff approximately 150 feet, on an 80-degree angle.”
After running down the cliff, the dog wound up in a culvert that runs beneath the train tracks. On one end, the culvert opened to the steep cliff; on the other end, it emptied into the Naugatuck River.
Firefighters contacted the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), who stopped all trains in the area. At that point, firefighters were able to descend down the cliff and approach the culvert.
Two firefighters blocked off either end of the culvert to prevent the dog from escaping. The dog was submerged in about an inch of cold water, Willis said.
Passersby gathered to watch as firefighters and animal control attempted to get the dog to come out. An all-terrain vehicle patrolled the area around the train tracks.
The dog’s owner had been looking for her dog when she noticed first responders’ vehicles parked in the parking lot of the Teddy Bear Treehouse Learning Center.
At around 4:15 p.m., firefighters brought her down to the train tracks in the ATV to lure her dog out. Standing at the entrance to the culvert, she was able to coax the dog out at around 4:25 p.m.
Seymour firefighters had also contacted Oxford Fire Department to request assistance from their confined space team, Willis said, but the dog’s coming out made their assistance unnecessary.
The rescue took about an hour in total. No first responders were harmed during the rescue; the dog is being evaluated for any injuries.
First responders and passersby watch as the rescue unfolds.
