In a bizarre combination of misfortune and good luck, a 44-year-old Ellicott City man fell through the ice into a frigid Centennial Lake Jan. 24, but was rescued by a county fire unit that happened to be conducting an ice rescue exercise nearby.

Justin Giron, of Ellicott City, was walking his two dogs around Centennial Lake when the misfortune struck.

Shortly after 10 a.m., one of Giron's dogs, a year-old Australian Shepherd named Charlie, ran onto the frozen lake and fell in. Giron tied his other dog, a Shih Tzu named Chewie, to a tree and went after Charlie.

Giron crawled out onto the ice and broke through into the chilling water about 40 feet from the shore, he said. He lifted his dog to safety, but became stuck in the ice himself, submerged up to his armpits, forcing a daring rescue.

"I'll tell you what scared me: Coming back and realizing I couldn't get up," said Giron, a database engineer who served in the U.S. Army for eight years. "I went underneath the ice, and my head couldn't break through it. It freaked me out. I totally underestimated how difficult it was going to be to get back to the shore."

In a moment of "absolute luck," members of the county's Department of Fire and Rescue Services happened to be conducting an ice rescue exercise 300 feet away at another part of the lake, Howard County Assistant Fire Chief John Jerome said.

"They switched from training mode to response mode," Jerome said.

Giron credits the crew -- firefighter and paramedic Andy Hoffman, in particular -- with saving his life.

Hoffman said his crew was nearly finished at the site "when one of the joggers came up to us and said, 'There's somebody stuck out on the water,'" Hoffman said. "We ran up there."

Capt. Sean Utz tried to throw a life-saving rope bag out to Giron, but it didn't reach. So Hoffman, wearing his ice rescue suit, ventured out onto the ice.

Hoffman said the emergency crew was able to get to the victim within "four or five" minutes.

"If the response (to the call for help) had come from the station, the whole outcome would have been different," he said.

Fire officials said Hoffman initially had been hesitant about the training and put on the specialized suit for the first time in his career just 30 minutes before. He reached Giron and gave him a rope.

He said the victim looked "pretty exhausted, pale and (was) not saying a whole lot."

"He was in the water up to his chest. He had his arms out in front of him up on the ice," Hoffman said.

The rest of the fire crew, about 16 members, used the rope to pull Giron back to safety.

"I wasn't getting out of there," Giron said. "I couldn't break the ice. I couldn't touch the ground."

Giron was transported to Howard County General Hospital with moderate hypothermia, according to fire officials. The first temperature the hospital was able to obtain on Giron was 95 degrees, and that was after a period on a heated blanket in the emergency room, the officials said.

Giron was released from the hospital the same day.

Charlie, meanwhile, took off running after he was rescued from the lake, officials said. Fire and rescue personnel and passers-by looked for Charlie, who fire officials described as "scared, cold, distressed," but could not find him.

Charlie was found later that day by neighbors of Giron, who came to the park to assist in the search.

Hoffman said he doesn't feel like a hero.

"It didn't seem like a big deal at the time," he said. "There were 15 people there. Without everyone being there, no one person could have made a difference."

Giron said he learned some valuable lessons from the ordeal.

"I'm more aware of the danger of a dog going out on the ice," he said. "I got the opportunity to talk to the guys who pulled me out. I'm really grateful that they were there. They were prepared and professional. When I met Andy, I kind of got misty-eyed. There was a certain bond there. He saved my life."

As for Charlie, Giron said, "He's sore, but he's resting. He's sleeping."

---

user comments (0)