CFA and SES crews work to put a sling on the horse to lift it to safety.By Nicole Williams
DANDENONG CFA responded to an unusual rescue call on Saturday night.
The crew headed out to a call for a horse stuck in a paddock drain off Perry Road, Bangholme, about 5.30pm.
Senior station officer and incident controllor Darren Padgett said the horse named Gryphon had been trapped in the drain for some time when the call came through to the CFA.
“The horse had been in the drain for between two and three hours when we arrived,” Mr Padgett said.
“It was quite distressed and had fallen over in the water.”
The owners had tried using a rope to try to coax Gryphon up the embankment and had dug the bank away to create a ramp but his weight and exhaustion meant he couldn’t get out.
“We got the slings and everything we thought we would need and took it to the scene,” Mr Padgett said.
“We got him up a little bit but he kept standing up and rolling over and falling back into the drain.”
Reinforcements of a back-hoe from Greater Dandenong Council and a horse sling from Knox SES were called in.
“It was probably two hours before the back-hoe and SES arrived and we were able to get the sling in action.”
“We successfully lifted the horse out and he just stood up and ran off!”
Mr Padgett said the call-out was unusual for the CFA and the crew had never responded to a trapped horse but good team work, and some similar situations on TV, led to success.
“I had never done a rescue like this before, but having seen these things on TV I had a bit of an idea in my head,” Mr Padgett said.
