Woman Rescued from Icy Waters in Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON – Cold weather leaves little margin for error for first responders. On Monday morning a Bloomington woman fell into some frigid water, trying to save a four legged friend.

Around 11 a.m. Monday, Marcia Young was getting ready for work, when she and her husband heard squawking geese.

“Turned around and looked out our window and there he saw somebody in the lake,” said Young.

Her neighbor, Wendy Rogers, had fallen through the ice.

“I think maybe we were in panic mode, but you know you just have to do something, So, it wasn’t until afterwards I began to have wobbly knees and think, ‘oh, my goodness,'” said Young.

The fire department made its way to Monterey Road. Crews changed into their cold rescue gear on the way to save precious time.

“Realistically, in 15 minutes, you could have somebody hypothermic to the point of almost being unconscious, when the water’s under 32 degrees,” said Mike Kimmerling, fire chief of Bloomington.

Crews found Rogers clinging to a piece of ice.

“Already becoming hypothermic, and having a hard time holding onto the ice,” said Kimmerling.

Five minutes later, they had pulled her out.

“She was walking,” said Young. “They were supporting her, but she was walking and bless her heart, she wanted to be sure that we were rescuing her dog.”

It wasn’t long until crews got the dog, Shetland out safely as well.

“It was just whimpering and shivering, and oh, it was just scary. You were worried it was going to go into shock,” said Young.

Both were wrapped in blankets and taken for emergency care.

“Without the rapid response and the rapid call to 911, it could have been a very different outcome,” said Kimmerling.

Firefighters say it’s especially important to keep animals on a leash around water in the winter time.

And you shouldn’t go out on ice to rescue a pet. Instead, keep an eye on your pet and be prepared to direct firefighters if your pet needs to be rescued. Both Rogers and her dog are now home, recovering.

countyfiretactics

Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.

Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.

He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.

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