'No hesitation': Lewisporte firefighters save 1 of 2 dogs pulled from icy water

Members of Lewisporte's volunteer fire department and the town manager assisted in a cold water rescue on Monday after a pair of dogs went for a walk on ice near the community wharf and fell in.

Both pets were pulled from the water but only one survived.

"There was no hesitation," said fire Chief Rob Fudge. "There was six firemen dressed in minutes, put on the proper gear and out on the ice."

Fudge said the call came in shortly after 5 p.m. and that both dogs had fallen in the water by the time they arrived.

"The second dog did actually go back in the water and it was actually trying to swim towards the first dog," said Fudge, adding that it seemed like the one dog was trying to save the other.

Fudge said firefighters brought the dogs to shore one at a time, but the second dog wasn't responsive.

Mouth-to-mouth didn't work

Fudge said Lewisporte's town manager, Brian Peckford, who has medical training, showed up on site.

"He performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth on the dog. We performed that on the dog for 35 minutes," he said. "Until we kind of decided that it wasn't going to be a good outcome."

Fudge said he was proud of his department's response and the help provided by other community members.

"You got a group of people — again, all of these people, some were on their way home from work, others were still at work — but they took time from work and responded," said Fudge.

He warned that ice conditions are not safe for people or pets this time of year and asked people the community to stay off the ice as it melts.