Lucy, a recently adopted labradoodle, who found herself cold and wet on a chunk of floating ice on the Detroit River, has captured the hearts of Midwesterners who watched her daring rescue on the news and social media.
“It had such a happy outcome,” said Wyandotte Assistant Fire Chief Tom Lyon, who along with a small crowd of first responders and residents watched his men suit up in orange insulated wet suits and risk their lives to save the terrified animal. “She just had those big brown eyes, and she couldn’t talk, but she probably was just so grateful.”
The dog, who first responders estimate was maybe 80-pounds, somehow got away from her new owners who live on the 200 block of Biddle, just off the Detroit River and ended up on an ice floe.
Fortunately, Wyandotte Deputy Police Chief Archie Hamilton said, neighbors who spotted the dog on the water, called 911 to report it.
“If not for that,” he added, “that dog would have froze to death or drowned.”
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The police were first to respond to the call, which came in at about 4:15 p.m. Monday, Hamilton said. At that point the dog was 40-50 feet from the banks. It was cold and looked exhausted.
Hamilton said the police officers considered calling the U.S. Coast Guard — and even going into the freezing water themselves. But when the firefighters showed up, they calmly took control and made a plan.
By Thursday the rescue, which was documented on video and in photographs had circulated on social media and television stations as far away as Chicago and Cincinnati were broadcasting it.
It wasn’t the first time Wyandotte firefighters saved a pet from the ice.
Lyon said it happens once or twice a year.
The frozen river, however, poses tremendous dangers to the rescuers.
Not only is the water freezing, Lyon said, but the moving ice and currents are especially menacing. The firefighters do what they can, but must weigh the risks. A dog who got too far out on the ice last year didn’t make it.
But, another one — a 1-year-old dog rescuers called Alfonso — survived a four-day ordeal last winter that included run-ins with coyotes, frigid temperatures, falls in the Detroit River and a trek from metro Detroit to floating river ice to a Canadian island.
To save Lucy, firefighters nudged the ice floe toward the river bank, and, when it was 15-20 feet away, firefighter Derrek Azzopardi went in the water, used a catchpole to grab the dog and pull her to him.
Then, he handed Lucy to Thomas Cunningham, another fireman, who wrapped her in a warm blanket.
The rescue took about 30 minutes.
Lyon said the neighbors did the right thing by alerting police and not trying to go into the river and rescue the dog themselves. The fire department has special cold-water gear and training for these kinds of operations.
“It’s a dog, and a member of the family,” Lyon added, expressing his sympathy for the anxiety pet owners feel. “But it would be even more tragic if someone lost their life trying to save it.”
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.