Firefighters Rescue St. Bernard From 30-Foot-Deep Dry Well

— -- On a day with relentless humidity and temperatures dangerously wavering just below 100 degrees, a team of firefighters worked to save a life: Mabel, a St. Bernard who had fallen 30 feet into a dry well in Perryman, Maryland.

The rescue was very detailed and took a full-team effort, said Daniel Lemmon, a firefighter with the Harford County Technical Rescue Team who played an integral role in the rescue by rappelling down into the dry well to harness the dog.

They rescued Mabel by lifting her out with a pulley system. The diverse effort ranged from a hazmat team to check the air quality of the well to a member of the Harford County Sheriff’s Department that supplied Lemmon dog treats to give to Mabel when he reached the bottom. “It’s a whole team effort. Sometimes we forget all those parts, but without them it just doesn’t work,” Lemmon said.

One of those fundamental parts was the rescue victim herself.

“She was an excellent patient. And I’m serious, because the dog cooperated 100 percent. She was so cooperative the whole time, no issues at all, didn’t snap at me, didn’t bark,” Lemmon said. “If there’s someone who’s the star of this, it’s really the dog.”

The efforts began around 5 p.m., but no one can be sure how long Mabel was stuck in the well.

Her owner, Leslie Ruhno, saw her last running around in the morning, but when she went out to refill a play pool for the dog around 3:30 p.m., she couldn’t find her.

After eventually checking the well house in her backyard, an unlikely spot for the dog because of the heavy lid, she called a neighbor. “I was too scared to look down there. I was just in shock,” Ruhno said.

Her neighbor, flashlight in hand, looked down the well and reported good news: There was Mabel, looking up at them from the bottom of the well.

Ruhno is still completely confused as to how Mabel fell into the well -- and how she survived the fall unharmed.

As soon as Mabel was lifted to safety, she was jumping around, too excited to even drink water, and a trip to the vet showed no injuries. “Not a sore spot on her,” Ruhno said. The vet's only recommendation? Buy her a cape because she’s obviously a super dog.

Ruhno is extremely grateful for the fleet of firefighters, the technical rescue team and the EMS members who reported to such an unusual incident. “To all the Harford County EMS folks, we’re really appreciative that everyone came out and put in the effort on such an incredibly hot day to rescue her,” she said.