Firefighter slide across frozen river (Video)

Every winter, I am so thankful I don’t live anywhere that’s cold enough for bodies of water to freeze over. The dog became trapped in an icy river for more than an hour. Lola, a nine-year-old black Labrador, was stuck in the frozen water when rescuers arrived at the River Sheyenne at Fargo, USA. A local rowing club near to the river alerted authorities after noticing Lola was unable to escape.

West Fargo Rural Fire Department members attached a rope to inspector Miller so they could pull him back in. He slid across the icy river and made him way to Lola who was quite far from the bank. Inspector Miller said: “We were really worried about poor Lola as he had been stuck in the ice for about an hour in the freezing cold water. He had been out walking with his dog walker when he had run into the river not realising that the minus six degree weather we’ve had recently had frozen the water. His dog walker told us he’s so used to paddling in the river and the sea that he just bounded off hoping for a little swim. I made sure I was securely fastened to the rope and started across the ice. As I got closer to Lola I could hear him whimpering and I kept calling back to him to try and reassure the poor dog. I managed to grab him by his scruff and help Lola push himself up onto the ice.”

The ice cracked!

He must have been freezing because he didn’t hang around but scampered off towards his dog walker. The firefighters then tugged on the rope which was attached to me and pulled me back onto land where I could check Lola over. He had a small cut on his paw and was pretty cold but apart from this he was absolutely fine. I’d like to say a huge thank you to the fire services, without their assistance I wouldn’t have been able to rescue poor Lola. They were brilliant in putting a contingency rescue plan in place – and it paid off as we brought Lola to safety!” Watch the video, I got so nervous when he got close to him and the ice cracked!