WELLESLEY – A Wellesley father of three and his dog are home safely after emergency responders rescued them from an icy lake Sunday.
Dramatic drone video shows the daring rescue on Sunday as a first responder crawls across thin ice to help Ed Berger struggle in a frigid Lake Waban. But it wasn’t just Ed in the water, his 8-year-old Cockapoo Tommy had fallen into the lake first.
“Traumatic experience”
“It was definitely a pretty traumatic experience,” Ed Berger said. “I think anyone who has a pet would do the same, I just knew I had to do something.”
Wellesley Police
It started during a walk when Tommy saw birds, then ran away, but tumbled into the icy lake.
As quickly as Ed could act, he grabbed a boat from Wellesley College and went after Tommy, putting his maritime cold-water training to the test.
“I did a few things right and I did a few things wrong because I clearly didn’t mean to be part of the problem,” Ed Berger said. “I knew the first thing I had to do was control my breathing and not panic, and I had the boat.”
But the boat tipped over. Within minutes, firefighters and police worked together to first pull the father of three from the water. Then they took Tommy out too.
“I kept telling the fire department, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, go save the dog,’ but they said, ‘No sir, people first, it has to be people first,'” Ed Berger said.
Tommy was taken to the Veterinary Emergency Group where Dr. Allan Heuerman treated the dog.
CBS Boston
“Our first concern is hypothermia,” said Dr. Heuerman. “Tommy is a fighter, which has definitely helped him stay alive, breathing and fighting throughout this whole process, so he’s definitely been lucky.”
Ice warning
It’s a dangerous time on the ice that can lead to tragedies, as in Atkinson, New Hampshire where a 56-year-old mother fell through the ice and drowned this weekend.
In Wareham, emergency responders found a man clinging to a kayak after falling through an icy pond.
“Even though we’ve had cold temperatures. We don’t recommend going in there at all because you never know if the water is moving, if there’s a pocket of warmer water underneath,” said Wellesley Fire Chief Matthew Corda .
What could have ended in tragedy became a happy ending for Ed and Tommy, and for that they are so grateful to the first responders and medical staff who made this possible.
“The fact that they got me, and they got him, was just absolutely amazing, so incredibly grateful,” Ed Berger said.
First responders say the lesson here is to keep your dogs on a leash and if they go into the ice, don’t follow them, just call 911.