The Seattle Fire Department rescued a dog that had been trapped inside a collapsed home for six days.
Didi and James Fritts’ home collapsed following a hill slide that impacted their block in the Magnolia neighborhood Jan. 7, reported Fox 13.
“I knew if we ever heard a loud noise it was not good,” Didi recounted in an interview with Fox 13. “I was walking towards the door, and the whole thing came in on us. It was a loud roar and the whole thing came down on us. I don’t know how long it lasted. It was very quick.”
Trapped on the first floor, the couple survived but believed they had lost both of their dogs in the collapse, Fox 13 reported. One of the dogs had been two feet away from James and he watched the dog get crushed to death by the rubble, the outlet reported. But their second dog, Sammy, was unaccounted for, according to Fox 13. (RELATED: Dog Missing For 43 Days Found In Grain Silo, Reunited With Family)
The days following the collapse, Didi and James reportedly went to their home hoping to hear or see Sammy, but the couple wasn’t very hopeful.
Exactly six days later, the Fritts’ neighbors heard a small whimper come from the collapsed home, according to KING 5. The couple informed the fire department, and once crew members arrived on scene, the dog’s cries could still be heard, the outlet wrote.
2400 block of Perkins Ln W: pic.twitter.com/HO9Ko0WqZp
— Seattle Fire Dept. (@SeattleFire) January 13, 2022
“We took apart the entire floor, pulled her out and she had just enough room to survive so she wasn’t crushed,” one of the neighbors, Remy Olivier, said to KING 5. “I guess she was surviving on rain water the past couple days.”
It took the fire department a few hours to remove the debris to access the living room, where Sammy was trapped, reported the New York Post. David Cuerpo, the Seattle Fire Department public information officer, told KING 5 their crew members had to exercise extreme caution because the home was unsafe to enter. (RELATED: Firefighters Use Saws And Sledgehammers To Free Dog That Was Stuck Between Walls For 5 Days)
In a video posted to the Seattle Fire Department’s Twitter page, rescuers are seen pulling the black Labrador retriever from the home. Didi, overwhelmed with emotion, is heard yelling in the background, “Oh my baby. My baby.” Sammy appeared shaken up, but immediately perked up once reunited with Didi, additional footage captured by KING 5 shows.
Although trapped inside the home for almost a week, Sammy was examined and said to be in stable condition, according to the New York Post.