Saving Charlie

Creston firefighters saved the life of a 3-year-old yellow lab named Charlie over the weekend.

The rescue occurred around 2 p.m. Saturday at Summit Lake after Charlie and his brother Bruiser — a chocolate lab — got loose from a local residence in Creston and ventured to the lake where Charlie apparently ran onto the ice to chase some geese and fell into the freezing water.

Bruiser and Charlie — treading in the freezing water — began to bark, which got the attention of Greg Driskell who was grilling on his back patio at his house. Greg told his wife Merry about the situation and she called the Creston Fire Department directly.

“It didn’t take them long to get there,” Greg said.

Responding were Creston firefighters Lee Freeman, Kyle Krantz, Gary Thompson, Ray Ott, Taner Morey and Cheryl Blazek.

Krantz and Freeman put on ice rescue suits and together crawled on their stomachs across the ice (estimated at 5 inches in depth) for about 300 feet before getting to Charlie who had been treading in freezing water for approximately 40 minutes.

Freeman lifted the 95-pound dog out of water and into a Stokes rescue basket.

“He was shaking pretty good, but was happy to see us and be out of the water,” Krantz said.

Firefighters Ott, Thompson, Morey and Blazek pulled their fellow firefighters and Charlie to shoreline.

Charlie was taken immediately to Creston Veterinary Clinic where doctors there started him on an IV full of warm saline, covered him in blankets and warmed him with a heating lamp.

Charlie’s owners — Jennie and Ryan Samo — were at a late family Christmas dinner in Lenox and were unaware the dogs got loose from Jennie’s mothers house in Creston and were unaware of the rescue. They were contacted and met Charlie at the vet clinic.

“He looked so sad and weak and had the biggest puppy dog eyes,” Jennie said. “Seeing him like that made me start to cry.”

Jennie said the vet clinic kept Charlie overnight to monitor his body temperature. He was released Sunday morning and Jennie said he and his brother Bruiser were back to normal by Sunday afternoon playing together at their residence in West Des Moines.

“I just want to thank everyone involved,” Jennie said. “A family Christmas really turned into quite a weekend adventure for everyone. Again, we are so appreciative of everyone’s help. They saved Charlie’s life. The vet told us he wouldn’t have made it out there in the water much longer.”