Rescue teams from Anne Arundel County Fire and Rescue and the Annapolis Fire Department teamed up to rescue a dog from a creek’s icy waters.
Rescue teams from Anne Arundel County Fire and Rescue and the Annapolis Fire Department teamed up early Monday morning to rescue a dog that had fallen down an embankment and landed into a creek’s icy waters.
The call came in just after 5 a.m., after a woman had let her dog out in the backyard of her home on Luce Creek Drive.
“When she went to check on him, she could see that he had slid down their backyard,” said Capt. Jenny Macallair with the fire department. “It’s apparently a pretty significant grade, and the grade goes down to the water, to that creek. She could hear the dog, but she was, the dog was not able to come to her.”
First responders saw the dog about 150 feet down and standing in about two feet of water. He was barking, but unable to get out. A team from the Annapolis Fire Department was called in and put on special ice rescue suits they have for these kinds of situations.
“The water where the dog had fallen in, it was still ice around it,” said Capt. Bud Zapata with the city’s Fire Marshal’s Office. “But where the dog was, it was just the water. So it looks like he may have broken the ice when he landed.”
They were able to pull the dog out and wrap it up in some blankets. Zapata said he spoke with the vet Monday afternoon and confirmed the dog was showing signs of a good recovery, including a strong appetite.
“I think between the hill and then the icy conditions, the dog just wasn’t able to self-rescue, back up,” Macallair said.
She said that’s a good reminder about how frozen the waters around the region really are.
“If it’s iced over, that ice is most likely very thin,” Macallair said. “People should not walk on it if they have pets near it. Make sure your pets are on a leash. And then if there is an instance where somebody sees somebody go through the ice, do not try to self-rescue that person. Oftentimes, especially if it’s just the two of you, what will happen is, now we have two people in the ice.”
She said the best thing to do is call 911 immediately if a person or pet is trapped in ice or frigid waters.
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