Stray dog stranded for days in abandoned building rescued from ledge

A dog, stranded for days on the second floor of a crumbling North St. Louis building seemed ready to jump to her death, on Friday. A lot changed in the past five days. The dog, a female, yellow-lab mix, was on the window ledge at 1914 Palm, a shell of a home that had stood empty since it burned years ago. One rescuer got hurt trying to get to her. Luckily for the dog, St. Louis firefighters found a way.

"We risk a lot to save a lot, that's the mentality of the fire department," said St. Louis firefighter, Mike Byrne. Such was the case Friday; even in a long-forgotten burned out building and a dog no one seemed to want, in a place it couldn't survive. "She didn't want to come down the stairs," Byrne said.



"The dog was in the front window, teetering on the window ledge there," said St. Louis firefighter, Warren Sleep. "She'd been up here probably about a week with definitely no way down on her own."

Randy Grim of Stray Rescue animal shelter and rescue group had been checking on the dog. With each day she refused to come down, he got a little more desperate. "It was terrifying to see her constantly going into the window sill and looking like she might jump. So we started leaving food, throwing food [up into the window]," Grim said. "The look in her eyes was pure panic and terror: fear...I tried to get up there one time. I fell through one of the stairs and a beam hit me in the head."



A short time later, Grim noted the sign on the door of a passing fire truck: Engine Company 9. He followed it until it stopped. "He flagged us down, asked us for an assist," Sleep said.

Firefighters trained to find their ways through dangerous old buildings, made it up those steps, coaxed the dog off the ledge, and led her down to Grim, who named her, "E-9", after that truck he followed and in honour of the firefighters who saved her. "They need to be honoured," Grim said. "She would have died if they didn't help ... it was really a neat thing for me to see how really heroic and good they are. I mean, I was shocked...God knows I've rescued every situation I thought possible. This was one of those situations I knew I needed help...I thought I was fearless. But I have nothing on those firemen."

With news video.