A Midway firefighter is being praised for his heroic actions after he dove into freezing cold water to save the life of a citizen’s dog this weekend.
Cale Secondine, who has been a firefighter/EMT for a total of three years and has served in Midway for one year, said the station received a call on Sunday night for a public assist. They responded to a Midway home and spoke to the residents, who said their dog, Daisy, was stuck underneath a dock and they couldn't get her.
"We spotted the dog and shone the light on her," Secondine said. "She was stuck in between two boards underneath the dock. Her head was just barely above the water."
Despite temperatures dipping below 45 degrees, Secondine took off his boots and jacket and dove into the chilly water.
"It was cold," he said. "I had to catch my breath."
Secondine was able to get to Daisy, who he described as a "furry little thing" weighing 25 pounds at most, underneath the dock and freed her from the boards. He took the whimpering pup to shore, where her owners immediately wrapped her up in blankets and gave Secondine blankets to get warm as well.
Secondine has an English bulldog named Rocky, and said as a dog lover, he didn't think twice about braving the cold water to save another family's dog.
Midway Fire District Chief Jonathan Kanzigg said he was proud of Secondine, and added that animal rescues are an unusual, but not unheard of, call for his department.
"We usually have about two or three animal rescues a year," Kanzigg said. "Either from a fire, or from storm drains, or a horse stuck in the mud or an exotic bird in the tree."
But saving a dog from drowning underneath a dock is a new one for him. And it's something Secondine said he won't soon forget.
"The dog was an older dog," he said. "I really felt for these people."
