Fire Dept. Rescues Puppy After Fall Through Cove Ice

by Elizabeth McNamara | Jan 19, 2018

EGFD Capt. Tom Mears holds the rope attached to Lt. Mert Greene, who is in the water closing in on the puppy.

By Elizabeth F. McNamara

The call came in just before 1 p.m. Friday – a puppy had fallen through the ice in Greenwich Cove off Scalloptown Park. By the time firefighters arrived, the dog had been in the water for maybe 20 minutes and a bystander said the dog had gone under, EGFD Capt. Tom Mears recounted.

“We had somebody in a suit and had the dog recovered within eight minutes,” said Mears.

The “somebody” in question was fire Lt. Mert Greene. Mears was in charge and handled the rope attached to Greene that was used to pull in the firefighter and the puppy (named Archie).

“After several minutes of warming, the dog seemed fine and went home with the owner,” said Mears.

Archie, the puppy rescue from Greenwich Cove after falling through the ice.

“Thank you to the EG Police and EG Fire departments for rescuing our pup in the frozen ice! Special thanks to Mert, our hero😊. Archie is feeling good – exhausted, but doing fine,” wrote the owner on Facebook Friday afternoon.

The firefighters practice ice rescues throughout the winter to be ready for instances just like this. Mears explained why the fire department rescues dogs after a practice earlier in January.

“When someone calls about an animal on the ice it’s only a matter of time before a citizen will try to go out to try to save it,” he said. “And then we end up with a disaster.”

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