Members of the Mapaville and Hillsboro fire protection districts teamed up Monday afternoon (Feb. 22) to rescue a dog who had fallen through thawing ice on a pond in Mapaville.
At about 4:10 p.m., Mapaville Fire got a call about the dog in a pond on private property in the 9900 block of Morgan Road near Hwy. A, Chief Dave Brown said.
“We had a dog walk on the (iced-over) water and fall through,” he said. “It was a 125-pound Great Pyrenees.”
Brown said the dog belongs to the property owners, whose names were not available.
He said the dog’s name wasn’t available either.
Brown said the dog was doing well after rescuers got him out of the pond and tended to him.
“He was warming up and starting to move around,” Brown said.
Some Mapaville and Hillsboro fire personnel recently completed ice rescue training for just those kinds of situations, Brown said.
He said Mapaville Fire contacted Hillsboro Fire to help because it had the equipment needed for ice rescues.
“We don’t have the wet suits,” Brown said. “Hillsboro does.”
Hillsboro Capt. Kyle Huskey donned a cold-weather rescue suit and went onto the ice and into the water to rescue the dog. He said the rescue itself did not take long.
“Once I had the suit on, I was able to get him out in about five minutes,” Huskey said. “The dog was very cooperative. He wanted to get out. It was pretty cold. The only thing was, he was a bit heavy. Once I walked out to him, I fell through the ice and touched bottom. I walked out with him.
“Once he (the dog) got out, he was able to walk on his own. We got him inside and put blankets around him. He was shivering.”
Huskey, 34, of Hillsboro said he has been a firefighter for about 10 years, and a full-time Hillsboro firefighter since 2014, and this was his first ice rescue of any kind.
“I’ve been through ice rescue technician training,” he said. “Mapaville had come out and trained with us recently. We do the training yearly.”
Huskey said the dog rescue gave him valuable experience for future ice rescue situations.
He said he appreciated the opportunity to save the dog.
“It’s very gratifying,” he said. “Any life, anytime we can help someone and do our craft, it’s gratifying.”
Huskey praised both fire districts for the rescue.
“Both districts did well,” he said.