{"id":218381,"date":"2010-01-23T00:02:11","date_gmt":"2010-01-23T05:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef012877032f78970c"},"modified":"2010-01-23T00:22:24","modified_gmt":"2010-01-23T05:22:24","slug":"los-angeles-firefighter-recounts-daring-dog-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/218381","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles firefighter recounts daring dog rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dogrescue\"<\/img><\/a>
<\/br><\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter who rescued a panicked dog from the brown, rushing waters of the Los Angeles River this afternoon said that unless firefighters acted, someone else was likely to have ventured into the concrete wash and wound up a casualty.<\/p>\n

<\/br>Joe St. Georges, 50, the firefighter who captivated much of\u00a0 Los Angeles as he was lowered by a tether into the churning waters to rescue the hound, told reporters late Friday that he suffered a bite to his thumb but was otherwise OK.
<\/br>
<\/br>\u201cI didn\u2019t have time to establish a rapport with the dog,\u201d St. Georges said, in a classic understatement, as he held his heavily bandaged hand in the air. \u201cHe did what dogs do.\u201d
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>\"Vernon\"<\/img><\/a> St. Georges was treated for the bite and released from Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. From there, he traveled to the department\u2019s air operations center in Van Nuys to meet with a throng of reporters.
<\/br>
<\/br>St. Georges shrugged off his injury, which he described as a single bite on the thumb.
<\/br>The firefighter said it was more \u201cprudent\u201d for him to do the rescue than to risk having a civilian jump in after the dog.
<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure there was a whole lot that could\u2019ve been done differently,\u201d St. Georges told reporters. \u201cSomebody was going to go do it, and then we\u2019d have to rescue a human victim.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dog was taken by [human] ambulance to a Downey shelter run by the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority, which serves 14 cities, including Vernon.
<\/br>
<\/br>Animal Control Officer Justin Guzman said the 6-year-old German shepherd mix was cold and wet, but otherwise unhurt. He showed no further aggression, and shelter staff named him Vernon.
<\/br>
<\/br>\u201cHe\u2019s really lovable,\u201d Guzman said. \u201cHe\u2019s appreciating all the attention he\u2019s getting here.\u201c
<\/br>Guzman said there were a \u201cmillion\u201d ways and reasons Vernon could have gotten into the river channel.
<\/br>
<\/br>\u201cWhether he got scared by the thunderstorm and jumped the fence, we don\u2019t know,\u201d he said.
<\/br>The dog was never really swept away, but managed for the most part to maintain his footing on a slender ledge in the middle of the river, the officer said.
<\/br>
<\/br>The dog will be quarantined and watched for signs of rabies.
<\/br>
<\/br>Marcia Mayeda, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control, said the disease is extremely rare in domestic animals. Untagged and loose, the dog was technically in violation of city codes, but the owners will face no repercussions if they step forward and take him home, Guzman said.
<\/br>
<\/br>If they don\u2019t, the shelter by early evening already had a list of 20 people who want to adopt Vernon.
<\/br>
<\/br>Mayeda said she was very impressed by St. Georges\u2019 actions.
<\/br>
<\/br>\u201cThat dog wouldn\u2019t have made it out\u2026I think the firefighter was very brave for rescuing him. I hope he gets a medal.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br><\/p>\n

— Gale Holland<\/p>\n

Top photo: LAFD Firefighter Joe St. Georges rescues Vernon on Friday. Bottom photo: Vernon after rescue. Credit: KTLA <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/input><\/input> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/input><\/input> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/input><\/input><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/input><\/input><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter who rescued a panicked dog from the brown, rushing waters of the Los Angeles River this afternoon said that unless firefighters acted, someone else was likely to have ventured into the concrete wash and wound up a casualty. Joe St. Georges, 50, the firefighter who captivated much of\u00a0 Los […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}