Dog Rescuer Tells How Tinley Pooch Was Pulled From Icy Pond

TINLEY PARK, IL — Firefighters could see that the dog fighting for her life in the icy waters of a retention pond was fading fast, but when they approached, at least one of her rescuers thought he also saw a gleam of hope in her eye.

“You literally saw it,” said Paul Michael Reyes, one of the Tinley Park firefighters who helped pull the dog to safety. “She looked at us and it looked like she was getting more energy.”

Firefighter Steve Uthe, Reyes and two others got the call Tuesday morning that a dog had fallen through the ice that covered a retention pond near 175th Street and 88th Avenue, mere blocks from their station.

Jessie, a one-year-old German Shepherd, was about 15 feet from the shore.

When the crew arrived, her owner was at the shore attempting his own rescue.

But the four had brought all of their equipment. Uthe quickly donned a “Gumby suit,” a kind of wet suit that would protect him if he became submerged in the water. The others laid a 16-foot ladder across the ice.

They tethered Uthe to the shore, and he made his way onto the ice. He lay flat across the ladder. Jessie who was flailing in the water, was able to hook her front paws on the end rungs. Uthe then pulled her onto the ladder with him, Reyes said.

Then, inch by inch, the three firefighters on the shore pulled the ladder with Uthe and Jessie on it until they made it to land.

The crew wrapped Jessie in a blanket and ran her to the owner's house.

Jessie was shivering, Reyes said. But she was fine.

Later, Reyes said, the Jessie’s owner told the crew that the rambunctious dog liked to chase the geese that flew into the yard. He thinks that she slid down an embankment during her frolic and skidded down to the pond. The owner could not be located for comment.

That afternoon, Jessie and her owner walked to the station to thank them for bringing her to safety.

“Seeing the dog…” Reyes laughed. “It was refreshing.”

Jessie is not the first animal the Tinley Park fire department has rescued. Last summer, Reyes said, firefighters pulled several dogs from a burning house and gave them CPR. They have also pulled dogs out of ice-covered ponds. This, however, is the first dog rescue for Reyes.

“We’re just doing our job,” he said.

Photos via Paul Michael Reyes.