After four days of trying to save a dog that was believed to be stuck in a storm drain near Norcross, rescuers discovered Saturday that there was no dog in the drain.
“Using some listening devices and accessing the main pipe visually, authorities determined there was no animal in the sewer,” Gwinnett police spokesman T.R. Tobler said on Saturday.
Residents of Balboa Court on Tuesday reported to Gwinnett County Animal Control that they heard dog noises coming from a storm drain, according to Rutledge.
Firefighters tried to rescue the dog Friday night until darkness hampered their efforts.
Around midnight a group of residents and volunteers got together to free the dog, said Jerry Cullen, who joined a group who gathered through Facebook to help free the animal.
“We heard that no one was going to try and get the dog out until the next day,” said Ashlee Rose, who drove an hour to go help with the rescue. “It was a matter of life and death for the dog.”
The group was able to locate drain and got down inside of the pipes, Rose said.
“We took the manhole cover off and started getting water out of the pipe with buckets,” Cullen told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “When the water was out we couldn’t see anything. That’s when we gave up and went home.”
On Saturday morning, the Gwinnett Fire Technical Rescue Team used a thermal imaging camera to check for any signs of an animal.
“They saw no signs of an animal in the pipe and there were no heat signatures that would indicate the presence of a body,” Gwinnett County fire spokesman Captain Tommy Rutledge said. “The sounds are now believed to have been an echo from some type of animal or insect nearby that were heard coming from the culvert,” Rutledge said. “This was pretty much a good intent call from a concerned citizen,” Rutledge added.
“This was not a wasted call and amounted to a good training opportunity for the personnel involved. All fire department resources at the scene remained in-service throughout the incident and were available to respond to other emergencies if needed.”
Rutledge said he was glad they were able to address the concerns of citizens who thought there was a need for a rescue.
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