The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Firefighter leaps into icy pond, saves dog
Pet happily reunited with family after chilling adventure.
Bob, a Black lab, is rescued by firefighter Logan Hadley in an icy Utah pond on Jan. 14. The dog leaped in and couldn’t get out.
Utah firefighter Logan Hadley was at the station writing reports when a call came in about a dog partially submerged and stuck in a frozen pond.
Hadley and a crew of eight rushed over to Steed Park in Clearfield, Utah, where they saw a black Labrador retriever clinging to an ice shelf from inside the 2½-acre pond. It was the afternoon of Jan. 14, and a snowstorm had just dumped several feet of snow in the surrounding mountains.
The dog was barking in the frigid water, and the pup’s frantic owner and her three children were calling to him, encouraging him to hang on.
“We’ve trained for a call like this, but I’d never had to do it before,” said Hadley, 20.
“This was my first time for an actual water rescue, and I could tell this family was really scared and worried about getting their dog out,” said Hadley, who had put on an insulated suit to prepare to get in the water himself.
The family told rescue workers their dog, Bob, had joyfully jumped into the frozen pond after romping in the snow at the park. When he was unable to climb out, they called 911.
North Davis Fire District Chief Mark Becraft said Bob was initially doggy-paddling and barking, looking for a way out, then he became tired and rested his front paws on the edge of the ice.
Every second matters in an icy pond, he said, and hypothermia could set in within minutes. Bob had already been in the pond about 10 minutes.
The crew attached a rescue line to Hadley’s suit, then set a ladder on the snowy slope in case rescuers needed something to hold onto, or the dog needed something to climb onto.
The video shows Hadley crawling down the slope to seem less intimidating to the dog, then lowering himself into the icy water feet first as his crew shouted instructions.
The dog began to growl at Hadley as he drew near. “Bob, be good!” the dog’s owner called to him.
The buoyant yellow suit helped keep Hadley afloat in the water as he approached the dog. Hadley said he could immediately sense Bob’s stress and fear. He grabbed the slippery dog from behind.
Bob squirmed to get away, but Hadley held on as the crew pulled them both out of the water with the line attached to Hadley’s suit.
Hadley said he felt relief as he watched Bob shake off the water, then run toward his family. “It felt good to see that reunion and know the dog was going to be all right,” he said.
Bob’s family warmed him up after his icy dip in the pond and he’s now in fine health, said Hadley.
Bob’s owner and her kids dropped by the fire station a few days after the incident to leave the rescue crew chocolates and a heartfelt thank-you note, Hadley said.