Article (archive)
Lt. Rob Bennett and Aspen, a 6-year-old yellow lab, pose for a photo on Friday at the Helena Fire Station No. 1. Aspen fell through the ice on Spring Meadow Lake Thursday and Bennett rescued her. - THOM BRIDGE, Independent Record
A yellow Labrador retriever is well and recuperating at home after a fall through the ice at Spring Meadow Lake on Thursday, prompting Helena firefighters to fetch it from the water.
Battalion Chief Neil Koehler said firefighters got a call about 11:30 a.m. that a dog had fallen through the ice. The dog, a female named Aspen, was about 30 feet offshore and its owner said it had been in the water about 15 minutes.
"She ran onto the ice when she wasn’t supposed to," the owner, who asked that her name not be used, said Friday. "She’s a lab and loves the water, I let her off the leash to pee for a second and she ran out on the ice."
Koehler said firefighters train for such rescues, but usually with people in mind. He said they used ice rescue equipment, which includes a suit that helps the firefighter stay afloat, and put Lt. Rob Bennett into the water to rescue Aspen.
"She was happy to be found," Bennett said Friday. "She was pretty exhausted."
Koehler said the rescue took about six minutes.
Koehler said as soon as Bennett got close to Aspen, she turned and swam to the firefighter “as if it knew it was going to rescue him.”
“This dog was getting close to not lasting much longer,” Koehler said.
Lt. Rob Bennett of the Helena Fire Department rescues a yellow lab named Aspen Thursday at Spring Meadow Lake.- Helena Fire Department
Aspen was large, Koehler said, and did not have enough strength to pull herself out of the ice. And the dog kept breaking through the ice as Bennett tried to lift her to safety.
When Aspen was finally out of the water, the dog ran up to its owner, Koehler said.
Bennett, 34, is doing well, but surprised as to how much effort and energy it took to save the dog.
"It was a little bit more tiring than I would have imagined," he said. "We train, but we don’t get the realness of it until we get put into the situation. It was tiring, but definitely well worth it."
He called the rescue "a good team effort."
"Just because I went in the water doesn’t mean the crew didn’t play a vital role," Bennett said.
Koehler said there were six firefighters at the scene.
Helena Firefighters IAFF Local 448 posted about the rescue on its Facebook page and said ice rescue is “something we practice every year and hope to never need.
Fortunately everything worked out for the best today.”
Koehler said the thought never entered firefighters’ minds to not rescue the dog.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “Some people value their pets more than they value their own children. We’ll do everything we can to save them.”
Koehler said the rescue training focuses on helping people.
“We’ve talked about it, but we’ve never rescued an animal,” he said. “We train for people and saving human lives, (but) to save an animal is definitely within our scope.”
Aspen's owner, who said she works in emergency medical service, praised the firefighters.
"They’re great," she said. "They had a fast response and they were professional."
And how is 6-year-old Aspen?
"She’s great and back to being her happy self," her owner said. "She slept very good last night."
Lt. Rob Bennett and Aspen, a 6-year-old yellow lab, pose for a photo on Friday at the Helena Fire Station No. 1. Aspen fell through the ice on Spring Meadow Lake Thursday and Bennett rescued her. - THOM BRIDGE, Independent Record
A yellow Labrador retriever is well and recuperating at home after a fall through the ice at Spring Meadow Lake on Thursday, prompting Helena firefighters to fetch it from the water.
Battalion Chief Neil Koehler said firefighters got a call about 11:30 a.m. that a dog had fallen through the ice. The dog, a female named Aspen, was about 30 feet offshore and its owner said it had been in the water about 15 minutes.
"She ran onto the ice when she wasn’t supposed to," the owner, who asked that her name not be used, said Friday. "She’s a lab and loves the water, I let her off the leash to pee for a second and she ran out on the ice."
Koehler said firefighters train for such rescues, but usually with people in mind. He said they used ice rescue equipment, which includes a suit that helps the firefighter stay afloat, and put Lt. Rob Bennett into the water to rescue Aspen.
"She was happy to be found," Bennett said Friday. "She was pretty exhausted."
Koehler said the rescue took about six minutes.
Koehler said as soon as Bennett got close to Aspen, she turned and swam to the firefighter “as if it knew it was going to rescue him.”
“This dog was getting close to not lasting much longer,” Koehler said.
Lt. Rob Bennett of the Helena Fire Department rescues a yellow lab named Aspen Thursday at Spring Meadow Lake.- Helena Fire Department
Aspen was large, Koehler said, and did not have enough strength to pull herself out of the ice. And the dog kept breaking through the ice as Bennett tried to lift her to safety.
When Aspen was finally out of the water, the dog ran up to its owner, Koehler said.
Bennett, 34, is doing well, but surprised as to how much effort and energy it took to save the dog.
"It was a little bit more tiring than I would have imagined," he said. "We train, but we don’t get the realness of it until we get put into the situation. It was tiring, but definitely well worth it."
He called the rescue "a good team effort."
"Just because I went in the water doesn’t mean the crew didn’t play a vital role," Bennett said.
Koehler said there were six firefighters at the scene.
Helena Firefighters IAFF Local 448 posted about the rescue on its Facebook page and said ice rescue is “something we practice every year and hope to never need.
Fortunately everything worked out for the best today.”
Koehler said the thought never entered firefighters’ minds to not rescue the dog.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “Some people value their pets more than they value their own children. We’ll do everything we can to save them.”
Koehler said the rescue training focuses on helping people.
“We’ve talked about it, but we’ve never rescued an animal,” he said. “We train for people and saving human lives, (but) to save an animal is definitely within our scope.”
Aspen's owner, who said she works in emergency medical service, praised the firefighters.
"They’re great," she said. "They had a fast response and they were professional."
And how is 6-year-old Aspen?
"She’s great and back to being her happy self," her owner said. "She slept very good last night."
