Firefighters rescue deer stuck in icy waters in Fayette County

As far as rescues go, Bullskin Township firefighters had a first of its kind for the department when they received a report over the weekend of three deer trapped in the icy water at the Greenlick Dam Reservoir in Fayette County.

“We’ve had rescues before involving wildlife, but nothing like this. The great thing is everything turned out fantastic here,” said fire Chief Kyle Quinn.

When firefighters responded to the 911 dispatch for the deer at 8:47 a.m. Saturday, temperatures were in the 20s and it was windy, Quinn said.

The department responded to the 100-plus acre dam — located near Route 982 near the county’s border with southern Westmoreland County — with multiple units, including its water rescue team. They were assisted by Scottdale firefighters and Mutual Aid Ambulance.

“By the time we got there, I guess one of the deer had already made its way back onto the ice and had ran back into the woods. But two deer were still in the water, right along the edge of the ice. When they tried to work their way back onto the ice, the ice would break off and they were having a lot of trouble,” Quinn said. “I’d say they were about 300 yards out from the shore, almost dead center in the lake. Half the lake was ice and half was water.”

Quinn said firefighters devised a plan to herd the deer toward the shore instead of attempting to place ropes on them and pull them to shore, which could increase the chance for injury to the deer and firefighters if the animals panicked.

The deer had their front legs propped on a piece of floating ice and propelled themselves using their hind legs.

“As we got closer to the shore, both deer were able to make their way up onto the ice to the shore and ran into the woods … both healthy as far as we could tell. It was really a fantastic result,” Quinn said.

He said the rescue took about 45 minutes.