A young man living in Ardèche has just received an invoice from the fire services who intervened to save his dog, doomed to die without help.
This information seems so astonishing that it was reported in the local media in Ardèche. A young man was moved by France Bleu Ardèche about some very bad news: Alian, 25 years old, living in the small town of Saint-Vincent-de-Barrès, has to pay 10,000 euros for an intervention by the firefighters, which took place during his vacation in Switzerland last August. The reason ? Rescuing his dog, who got stuck in a sewer pipe, after chasing a fox.
The animal, an unlucky young Jake Russel, did not manage during his misadventure to escape the trap he had entered. Our colleagues report that its master, alerted by its yapping and faced with the situation, had no other choice but to call for help, the animal would undoubtedly die if it stayed there. And the firefighters then intervened with seriousness and involvement.
The rescue operation lasted hours and hours, a camera was placed to locate the animal. A hole was dug on the side of the road, the emergency services then pierced the pipe: after 48 hours, the young dog was saved. Throughout the procedure, the young master was made aware that all this would not be free and that the intervention would indeed have a cost for him.
“I couldn’t do otherwise, I wasn’t going to let my dog ??die in this pipe, it was unthinkable, but I still didn’t expect that,” the young man despaired to the local media today . “It’s insane and disproportionate. I don’t want to spit on the rescuers, but I had the impression that it was a gesture of kindness and benevolence. With this amount, I rather have the impression that they used my distress for my dog ??to line their pockets,” he said. The young man who does not know how to get out this sum, created an online fundraiser to call for help from the good souls affected by his story.
It must be said that the fire services, in France as in Switzerland, are sometimes forced to charge for a certain number of interventions. In France, for example, it is possible for firefighters to request a financial contribution for acts which do not fall within statutory obligations, such as destroying pests, freeing people stuck in elevators, capturing animals, carrying out operations. non-accident and victim-free assistance.
In Switzerland, this principle also applies, and prices are significantly higher on all types of services, which explains the amount of the bill. “There were six firefighters over the course of a whole day, that’s around 4,000 Swiss francs. Plus the price for the vehicles mobilized. It’s mainly because of them that it costs,” admits the young man.
