(Statesman) – Kristina Perkerson is thanking Woodstock Fire Rescue for saving her 6-month-old Pomeranian, Kolt, before he could have drowned Wednesday evening.

Perkerson said she recently moved into a new development in Woodstock, Georgia, where hers is the only occupied house and the storm drains aren’t all covered.

She had just put Kolt and his big sister, 2-year-old Presley, outside about 6:30 p.m., before the rain started.

As Perkerson said goodbye to a friend, Kolt slipped and fell about six to eight feet into the storm drain.

“I heard him say, “Kolt, get away from the drain’ and that’s when he fell,” Perkerson said.

After about 20 minutes of struggling, Perkerson said she and her friend couldn’t free Kolt and the rain turned quickly from a sprinkle to a downpour.

“He’s four or five inches tall and I was afraid the water would start rising,” she said.

As she heard sirens in the distance, she couldn’t separate in her mind the sound of rescue trucks and a tornado warning.

“All of a sudden, I see the fire trucks and they literally jumped out to help,” Perkerson said, adding that she’s never experienced anything like the rescue before.

READ MORE››