Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department rescues dog, horse from ice

MARYLAND -- Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department came to the rescue of a runaway dog that had fallen through the ice on the Chesapeake Bay Sunday, Feb. 22.
 
KIVFD 1st Assistant Chief Tracy Schulz said it was the department’s second call for the dog, which had gone missing on Friday from Bay City.

The poodle was a rescue pet that had been abused, Schulz said. When the owner opened the door to let him out Friday afternoon, the dog took off, running right through the invisible fence boundary in the yard and toward the Bay.

 

When the fire department arrived, the poodle was no longer near Bay City. Using binoculars, Schulz spotted the dog up by the Bay Bridge, he said.

Three Natural Resources Police officers attempted to capture the poodle near Heminways, he said. But they had been warned the dog was skittish around men. They followed him up to the point under the bridge, then the dog took off along the shoreline toward Love Point.

The owner and volunteers from the community spent the evening looking for the dog, but did not find him.

About 9 a.m. Sunday, a motorist driving over the Bay Bridge spotted the dog half in and half out of the water and called for help.

The dog was at a place not too far from shore near where a ditch pipe comes out, so the ice was thinner, and he had fallen through; he had his front paws on the ice, but his lower half was in the water, Schulz said.

Two firefighters put on ice suits and waded out to rescue the poodle.

Mills Yslas reached the dog, grabbed him and was able to lead him back to shore, where the firefighters dried him off and loaded him into the Rescue truck for the ride back to the fire house, Schulz said.

Then they called Animal Control to notify the owner to come pick him up. By Sunday afternoon, dog and owner were reunited.

The dog was the second animal ice rescue for KIVFD last week. On Tuesday, Feb. 17, after the snowstorm, a call came about 8:30 a.m. for a horse trapped in an icy pond near Fox Run Lane in the Batts Neck area. The horse had walked out onto the frozen pond and fallen through the ice into the frigid water. It couldn’t get out on its own.

Emergency crews from Rescue 1 used a rope to pull and guide the horse from the pond. It was covered with a blanket and taken to shelter, apparently unharmed. There John Cahill was the commander on scene.

Firefighters said the horse seemed to be doing well after its rescue.

Ice and cold weren't the only threats faced by animals recently. On Saturday, Feb. 21, Goodwill Volunteer Fire Company responded to a dog house fire about 1 p.m. on Damsontown road in Ruthsburg, according to Dawn James, Animal Control manager.

The dog’s owner was using a heat lamp for warmth in an igloo in an outside kennel, she said. The lamp fell over and started a fire.

A passing motorist called 911 and got the dog out of the kennel and to safety before firefighters arrived, she said.

“I don’t think there was much left of the dog house,” James said. “A dog house is probably not the best place for heat lamps.”
(MyEasternShoreMD - Feb 25, 2015)