ENGINE 15/LADDER 18/BATTALION 4 (ENGINE 17 DISBANDED) FIREHOUSE 25 PITT STREET LOWER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN DIVISION 1, BATTALION 4 "FORT PITT"
FIRES/INCIDENTS/EVENTS
2017 - ASHLEY - FORT PITT MASCOT
When animal rescuers Erica Mahnken and her fiancé, Michael Favor, found Ashley the pit bull inside an abandoned “crack house” in Staten Island, New York, last month, the dog was malnourished and covered in cigarette burns.
For at least two days in the middle of January, the dog was left without water, food or electricity.
“We didn’t ask any questions when the person called us and told us the dog was alone,” Mahnken told CBS News. “It was freezing out. There was nothing in the house. No, we didn’t think about it -- we just ran and got her and said we’ll figure out what we were going to do after we got her out of there.”
FDNY firefighters say Ashley the pit bull loves to watch them cook in the firehouse kitchen.
Mahnken, Favor and their friend Lara Ribeiro started foster-based rescue
No More Pain Rescue nearly a year ago. At the time, the pair didn’t have anywhere to house the shivering dog. So, they called up some firefighter friends from a Lower East Side FDNY station called “Fort Pitt.”
The firefighters, who used to house a rottweiler, agreed to temporarily welcome the dog on Jan. 9.
Three days later, they called up Mahnken and asked if they could adopt the nearly year-old pit bull. Of course, Mahnken said, “Yes!”
“My heart wants to explode,” Mahnken said. “Everyone’s so quick to judge a dog, especially a dog you don’t know where it came from or what kind of person they are and what kind... It is very satisfying.”
The “Fort Pitt” firefighters also seem to be enjoying their new official firehouse dog named Ashley, “Ash” for short.
Ashley the pit bull rides in a fire truck in New York, New York.
The dog loves to hang out with the crew in the kitchen and goes on ride-alongs with the firefighters when they respond to a fire. She even has her own little spot on the fire truck, Mahnken added.
Ashley even has her own official Instagram account, which has already garnered more than 2,800 followers. Firefighters give almost updates -- almost daily -- on the dog’s adventures and whereabouts.
“Hey cap! the rig is checked ready to go,” firefighters captioned an Instagram post.
“I love my new job!” they wrote in one post.
“Reporting for doodie... ready to ride...I got the woof! (Roof),” they joked in another.
Mahnken is happy to see Ashley doing so well, and says she tries to make frequent trips to the firehouse to visit.
“Whenever she’s there her tail is wagging, she’s super friendly and jumping on everybody,” Mahnken said. “She’s really loveable.”
When Mahnken found the dog in early January, veterinarians said she was about 25 pounds underweight. FDNY firefighters say the dog now weighs about 50 pounds and is on her way to becoming perfectly healthy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pit-bull-rescued-from-crack-house-gets-adopted-by-fdny-firefighters/
Rescued pit bull finds new home at FDNY firehouse
By Natalie Musumeci
February 20, 2017 | 3:29pm
This lucky rescue pooch has gone from a crackhouse to a firehouse.
A Lower East Side FDNY station nicknamed “Fort Pitt” has adopted an adorable pit bull named Ashley — “Ash” for short — who was saved from a Staten Island crack den by a nonprofit animal group.
The Bravest of Engine 15/Ladder 18 on Pitt Street brought home their new four-legged probie last month, and according to photos from the dog’s Instagram account, she is adjusting to her new life just swell.
The 1-year-old pup’s Instagram account,
@probyash, which is maintained by the firehouse, shows the pooch hanging out in the Lower East Side firehouse’s kitchen, riding in the fire truck and hanging out with her new family.
“
From the crackhouse to the firehouse. Life is good,” her bio on the social media site reads.
The pooch can be seen posing in front of a fire truck in one photo along with the humorous caption: “Reporting for doodie… ready to ride…I got the woof! (Roof).”
Ash was the group
No More Pain Rescue’s first saved dog of the year, according to its Instagram page.
When the group picked up the dog Jan. 9, she was “filthy,” “extremely malnourished” and about 25 pounds underweight with cigarette burns on her head, Erica Mahnken, the co-founder of
No More Pain Rescue, told The Post on Monday.
“Despite all that, Ash was so happy to see us,” said Mahnken.
Mahnken said her fiancé had gotten a tip that junkies and crackheads who were living in an abandoned house on Staten Island had picked up and left last month, leaving the pup behind with no food or water.
“When we got the phone call that the people had been gone for at least two days, we ran and got Ash,” Mahnken said.
Mahnken said she and her fiancé have a few friends at the LES firehouse and knew they were looking to adopt a pup, so she contacted them right away.
Ash spent her first night away from the crackhouse at the firehouse.
“The minute we walked her through those doors, we knew that’s where she was meant to be,” Mahnken said. “Every single Fort Pitt firefighter instantly fell in love with her and she fell even more in love with them.”
The firehouse officially adopted Ash on Jan. 12 and she has gained a substantial amount of weight since her adoption.
“She’s such a happy girl and now weighs about 50 pounds!” Mahnken said. “I couldn’t have picked a better home for our sweet girl and I can’t thank the FDNY enough for allowing Ash to join New York’s Bravest.”
https://nypost.com/2017/02/20/rescued-pit-bull-finds-new-home-at-fdny-firehouse/
