St. Germain firefighters rescue deer from frigid waters of Lost Lake

The St. Germain Fire Department rescued a deer from Lost Lake on Dec. 2 after a concerned citizen called Vilas County to report the deer falling through the ice in front of her home.

Department members responded to the call around 8:30 a.m. to Lost Lake Drive, off Highway 155.

St. Germain Firefighters Nathan Gebhardt and Jacob Gebhardt, who are also brothers, utilized the department’s special ice rescue water suits to attempt the rescue.

Nathan Gebhardt, chief elect, went directly to the scene, and observed the deer in distress in the water. He made the determination, after sizing up the scene, that an ice rescue would be possible.

“Normally, we would not risk firefighter or rescuer safety for a wild animal, natural selection would take its course, but because the lake hadn’t frozen that deep, I thought we could break up the ice and try to get to the deer,” Gebhardt said. “So, we donned our ice rescue suits, broke the ice and made a channel to the deer.

“Typically speaking, we would not do an ice rescue for a wild animal, we’d conduct an ice rescue like that for an animal — more so if it was a family pet,” he said.

Firefighters Bowen Minx, Travis Fowler, Kyle Schneider, and Chief Tim Gebhardt also responded to the call and provided necessary support lakeside on land, including manning the safety rope tethered to the two brothers who had gone into the water.

“This was definitely not a normal rescue for us helping this deer, but it did also give our firefighters a good training opportunity with our ice rescue equipment,” Nathan added.

These types of rescues — whether for animals or humans — pose safety risks for the firefighters who have to perform the task. Minx provided an important reminder to community members to always be cautious when venturing out onto lakes in the winter, noting that “no ice is safe ice.”

The rescue was deemed a success by Nathan Gebhardt, who said the deer was able to get back to land.