Eight rescued from ponds

Emergency personnel on Sunday rescued a total of eight people from two different ponds at two different state parks, first in Torrington and then in Litchfield.

Six people were pulled from Torrington’s Burr Pond on Sunday morning, after they either fell through the ice or got stuck on the ice, according to a statement from Torrington fire Chief Peter Towey.

Torrington police said the call came in at 11:07 a.m. Sunday, for at least four people who had fallen into the water at Burr Pond State Park.

Towey said that, when emergency personnel responded to the scene, there were a total of five ice anglers and one bystander — who had attempted to help the anglers — who were stuck either in the water or on the ice.

All six people had been rescued by noon, Towey said. Two were transported to the hospital in LifeStar helicopters and two more were transported to the hospital in ambulances.

One firefighter was transported to the hospital for “overexertion,” Towey said, but is expected to return to the job.

“This was a very difficult and physically demanding rescue effort by all personnel involved,” Towey said. He noted that the ice on the pond is “thin and unstable” because of the warm weather.

Less than two hours after the Burr Pond call, emergency personnel responded to a similar call at Mount Tom State Park, which sits in the towns of Litchfield, Morris and Washington, about 20 miles down the road from Burr Pond.

Litchfield County Dispatch said that emergency personnel received a call at 12:33 p.m., for two men who had fallen into Mount Tom Pond. Emergency personnel pulled the men out of the water soon after, according to the dispatch center.

Neither of the men were transported to the hospital after they were rescued.