‘One-in-a-million chance’: Crews putting out interstate car fire discover missing dog inside storm drain
A car on fire in Chicopee, Massachusetts, left a driver with burns and smoke inhalation, with the expectation that they will be okay.
Officials said the car was fully involved and that the gas tank had ruptured, spilling fuel into a nearby storm drain. However, when crews went to check the storm drain for any contamination, they got quite the surprise, finding a furry friend instead.
Renee Robichaud, Animal Control Supervisor at Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center, told Western Mass News that the rescued dog Ally had been missing from her family in the forest park area for over a month and somehow made her way into this storm drain in Chicopee.
"When they opened it up, lo and behold there was Ally just kind of hunkering down in the storm drain. We don't know how she ended up in there or how long she'd been in there. I don't think there had been a single sighting yet, until that moment when the car caught on fire," Renee Robichaud said.
Robichaud says that the rescue was definitely a first for her.
"That's got to be a one-in-a-million chance, I mean I've never heard of something like that happening," Robichaud said.
Lieutenant Dennis Foley of the West Springfield Fire Department, who was responding to the car fire and helped rescue Ally, says the same.
"I think winning the lottery would be better odds than us finding a dog that we weren't looking for," Foley said.
Foley also wanted to give some recognition to firefighter Justin Burchell, who had only been with West Springfield Fire for two weeks, and trusted his instincts when hearing Ally's cry for help.
"He's the one that heard it and he's the one that went over there, and if he didn't think to check out what he heard or pay attention," Foley said.
Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center was more than happy to make that phone call to Ally's owner that their dog was alive and well, and then getting to help reunite them in the lobby.
Ally's owner did comment on Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center's social media post that shared the situation and that comment reads in part:
"She's a survivor and she was meant to be found after 34 days of being gone. We have to say we still have some amazing and blessed people in this world. I would agree that it is a miracle. I hope that the people of that car fire are all also safe and doing well."
And while Ally is back safe in the hands of her relieved owners, she will be undergoing medical treatment just to make sure that there are no underlying concerns after her month-long ordeal.